


Of Angels and Phantoms

by dearest_harley



Category: Ghost - Mystery Skulls (Music Video)
Genre: Angst, But later on in the story, Cute, F/M, Fluff, Long, Origin Story, Plot, mainly before the animation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-02 00:59:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 138,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2793971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dearest_harley/pseuds/dearest_harley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her feet are dangling over the edge, her throat clasped within the metal of a once trusted friend, and yet the usually brave and strong Vivi can't fight back. In her last moments, Vivi is more helpless and vulnerable than ever.<br/>Yet she sees before her a life worth living.<br/>Flashing in front of her closed eyelids, Vivi relives the highs and lows, the rises and falls of a life that she thought had crumbled. Knowing that you are alone is painful; knowing that you are loved is even worse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Before I Fall

**Author's Note:**

> First time posting a fanfic on this site! I usually write my own novels, but I cannot stop daydreaming about Lewis, Vivi, Arthur, and Mystery. By the looks of it, I'll be pumping out quite a few chapters a week what with winter break, so prepare for a really long story. I really hope you enjoy!

“Arthur, how did we end up like this?”

The girl’s lost voice cried deeply into the gaping darkness before her, slipping into the caverns and through the green fog ahead to swirl around the jagged stalagmites swiftly and with divine purpose. With every simple breath that left her lips, a flurry of mist fell away to avoid the winged words that fluttered through the cavern bravely, but the twists and turns of the path it travelled found her speech lost, never reaching the boy she called out so brokenly to. Her hands reached out for him if her words wouldn’t, stretching as they always did, just as they had many times before. He did not hear or feel her, but if he had, he did not acknowledge it.

He didn’t even turn around.

She felt her voice crack like kindling, raising it from a dry throat as fear began to grip her chest, a wicked hand trapping the dove within her beating chest, a snake coiled around a frightened mouse.   

“Arthur, listen to me!”

Her words left dust to dance in what little light the cavern offered, and with his name called, the golden head turned to look at the girl through eyes green with envy, jealousy, greed, and a sick sense of pride. His skin was tainted with the hues of possession and desire, and beneath the mask of a companion, the girl found nothing but the flashing of bright eyes turning dark to match the cavern they resided in. Her legs were screaming at her to run, her head shouting that she needed to leave and protect herself, but something in the way the boy moved was familiar, something in the way he fought was brave. There was still an inkling of hope in the shards of her heart, and so she overlooked the tainted skin before her so that he might prove to her that he was still in there, that the boy she cared so deeply for was still alive within the abyss of a lost soul.

He was smiling wickedly, his head tilted ever so slightly as he began to approach without footsteps, floating in the mist like a phantom. His expression jerked every so often as the boy within tried to fight back, tried to regain control, but he was too far gone and held too much doubt in his fragile heart to truly make a stand. The girl grabbed onto this little act, her hope rising as she called out once again to the friend held captive behind the mask of green despair.

“Please, Arthur, you can stop this.”

The monster lifted a hand to his face, freezing as the words left her mouth to grip at his face wildly. He looked down into a puddle on the floor with eyes wide and tearful, frowning and fighting with all the might the little lion could muster from within the jaws of the dragon, but his attempts were crushed by the jaws that locked him so powerfully behind their fangs. The grinning demon closed his eyes as he regained control quietly, expelling totally from his mind the futile struggles of the boy within. Again, he looked at the girl with a smile of true wickedness, and again he began to float towards her with fog billowing out from beneath him.

This was not Arthur anymore, not in the slightest sense.

“You don’t understand him, Viv. You never did.”

He finally spoke, the usually timid voice now loud and without stutter or fluctuation as it filled the cavern completely, sending a pulse throughout. His head had raised the slightest as the boy within began to struggle once more, showing upon his face the war between parasite and host with a smile and a frown, an eye of terror and an eye of delight, half content and half terrified. He was slowing down now, drawing closer but at less of a pace, and the girl took this to mean her friend was winning. Once more her voice rose up to greet the boy, and once again it reached the demon instead.

“I can try to understand, Arty, just give me another chance. Give us another chance.”

This was the push the demon needed, spreading throughout the body with a flare of anger and passion. His speed was frightening, a wind whipping through the cavern and tugging at the girl, pushing him towards her as the fog swirled in confusion around its master. With every beat of her heart, the girl watched as her friend fluctuated fluidly between grimace and grin, pleading and pleasured, but to no avail: the demon still held control of the body, and as her companion’s struggles grew more frantic and sporadic, the monster stopped just inches from the girl in blue. There was a deadly pause with nothing to be heard but the beating pulse of the courageous one, but as she lifted her chin bravely to defy the one so near her face, so dangerously close, she was pushed hard against the wall with a metal hand gripping her neck tightly. When she sputtered, the one holding her captive laughed quietly to himself, the grin of a demon spreading further and further across the gaunt face of the boy. With her struggles he tightened his grip around her soft skin, baring his teeth ferally at her with the pureness of hatred filling his eyes completely.

“You betrayed him, Viv. You raised this boy up then left him to fall,” the girl blinked as the pressure entered her head, clawing at the metal hand that would not budge as her mind readied itself to burst. When her eyes opened again, she was no longer next to the stalagmites and fog, but above them, held precariously by the prosthetic limb over the edge of a tall cliff, “and for that, I will do what the boy doesn’t have the nerve to. We will watch you fall.”

Her feet dangled in the air, kicking as hard as they could as her eyes searched the ground below frantically for a safe escape. The Mary Janes that clung to her feet gave in, falling down to land noiselessly in the fog below, and the girl could feel herself growing fainter with every breath stolen from her. As she was beginning to feel cold, her arms fell away from the fingers clasping her throat and to her side in a last flag of defeat, the final show of giving up truly. The once bright blue eyes grew grey with faint sleep, and as she took her final gasping breath, Vivi’s life flashed before her eyes.  


	2. Storms We Cannot Weather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vivi's mind slips into her past, finding a life of optimism and hope with the ones she loves close by. The Autumn is cold, but together, they can stay warm in the coldest of storms.

“Hey V, wake up.”

She burst awake, eyes widening violently as the girl began flailing and struggling and searching the area for a means of escape. Adrenaline was bursting through her veins, and the tiny heart within her chest was fit to burst at the rate it was running at, grabbing at anything she could with hands numb from the cold. Her throat was now wide open and exposed, but she was still gasping for air, and as she grabbed onto the handle of the door with the intent of bolting, she began to recognize where she was. No longer was she in a state of danger, but nestled safely between the cushions of the front seat of the Mystery Skulls van: a place that was safe, something calming. She sunk back into her seat, releasing the door as she allowed the light whirring of the empty freeway beneath their tires lull her back into a state of relaxation. What had just happened to frighten her so?

“You alright there? We’re only thirty miles away from our next job, one day earlier than expected. Thought we could sleep at the rest stop up ahead and have Arthur drive us into town tomorrow morning. Sound good?”

Lewis still had a hand placed protectively over Vivi’s shoulder, restraining the girl and preventing her from ramming her head into the windshield just above her, his eyes still on the road as she woke from her nightmare. Usually, it took the world ending to wake Vivi up from a deep sleep, and so the large boy had been prepared to put his football player-esque weight into shaking his friend awake, maybe a few raps on the mainly metal ceiling with a watch or a ring would get her to her feet, or a cold drink to the side of her neck. Still, something beside his touch had risen her from slumber, and the blue-headed girl was now looking around disorientedly.

As she came fully to her senses, the freeway still flashing beneath them, she fully absorbed what the boy had said with a little bit of confusion, “If we’re stopping to sleep, why’d you wake me up, Lew?” She yawned, stretching her arms out wide and curling her toes as she tapped the pink-haired boy playfully on his cheek, smiling at him through drooping eyelids.

He smiled a little bit, taking his eyes off of the road to look at her fondly and push her hand out of the way before merging onto the exit ramp towards the rest stop, “Because you asked me to, sleepyhead.”

“Oh. Yeah, I remember now.” She scratched her stomach, embarrassed by her forgetfulness and feeling the hunger pains as they rose to remind her in their own way. That evening, she had fallen asleep hungry after Mystery had found their secret stash, and even if she had her dinner, Vivi would never pass up the chance for food.

Lewis parked on the far side of the lot, a beautiful park-like rest area surrounded by thin forests and thick grasses, a stop that had clearly been well taken care of by those who owned it. The Mystery Skulls had seen some pretty skuzzy places on the road, but this place was actually really nice; if it had been warmer, Vivi probably would have tried to convince Lewis to gaze at the stars with her. As the old van was brought to a screeching halt upon the pavement, Lewis jumped out of his seat and into the chill of the mid-October air, a flurry of fallen leaves dancing around him in a sort of greeting as he quickly set to work turning the back of their van into a bed. Vivi, nearly skipping as she hurried over to the vending machines along the concrete walls of the bathrooms, was looking around in content wonder, just a little more appreciative of the world around her-whatever she had dreamed about, she was glad to be alive and in such a beautiful, safe place.

The girl paid for two granola bars, got three by luck, and began heading back to her boxy orange home. Lewis’ backside was sticking out of the back gate as he rummaged around in the blankets and pillows he had thrown down, setting it up as best he could to resemble a warm, comforting mattress with sleeping bags and comforters galore.

“I got you one.” She lied, knowing full well that Lewis would decline her offer for the granola bar as he always did. Vivi could eat twice as much as Lewis, and so it had become a habit of his to give her his share of a meal even if he probably needed it more. Just as she expected, he shook his heavily gelled head and continued to lay down the blankets with a gentleness that wasn’t necessarily required for the task, taking the job very seriously as he made the back of the van into a sleeping space rivaled only by the comfiest of mattresses.

The Mystery Skulls van was old, but volatile, and when Lewis got his hands on it and began to transform it from a ratty, dilapidated Westy, into a nest of warmth and closeness, there was nothing on earth that could compare in comfiness. Lewis had a special touch with the car, and whereas Arthur kept it from falling apart totally, Lewis turned it into a small, compacted, travelling home. Vivi preferred sleeping in the car to some of the sketchy places they had stopped at before and come to know so well, feeling a lot safer surrounded by her friends than alone in a big, empty room. Even if the boys were only a door or two down, she felt so lonely and cold when it was just her and Mystery, her dog; not to mention she loved to cuddle the two younger boys, three if you counted the eager mascot.

Arthur, their last companion, was dozing on the couch seat behind the driver’s side, snoring very softly to himself with his ginger head wrapped tightly in his arms and his elbows resting on his knees. He was curled up so small, compacted into a little, invisible box by habit rather than necessity. Their friend was the opposite of Vivi in many ways, and whereas she could sleep through a hurricane, he was a very light sleeper and often couldn’t even sleep in a moving car with all of the noises going on about him: this changed when he stayed up for two days straight without so much as a wink of rest. Vivi was just glad that he had, in fact, found the time and state of mind to partake in slumber-she knew he was falling ill after depriving himself of most basic needs, and after he downed ten energy drinks the day prior, she was pretty certain he needed this rest more than anything.

Vivi’s dog, Mystery, was curled up by Arthur’s feet with his head resting on top of the boys shoes, eyes looking up at Lewis and Vivi as they prepared the back for sleeping with the attention of a sentinel. His little bunny tail wagged rapidly back and forth as Vivi approached the two, munching noisily on her granola bar while she climbed into the back of the van and grabbed a large comforter before Lewis could lay claim to it. With the gentleness of a kiss of morning dew upon the abandoned webs spun by spiders, she tucked the comforter around both the man and the dog, feeling the chill of the air outside and knowing they must feel it, too. With her best friend and tiny companion taken care of, Vivi offered a hand to Lewis and pulled him into the back of the van with a very strong grip and a pat on the back.

Crawling into their sleeping bags, the two huddled together beneath layer and layer of blanket, curled into tight balls with faces towards each other in the hope that their breath and warmth would heat each others’ frozen noses and chilled chins. Their extremities had grown numb with the cold, and they wrapped as much of each other as they could in their arms, attempting to retain some warmth as it left their bodies in synchronized waves. They shivered together, trying to take their mind off of how cold the floor of the van was, waiting for the blankets to do their magic and keep the two from catching too many colds. At some point, Mystery slipped between the two, fitting like a puzzle piece between the curled in bellies of his owner and friend as he attempted to donate his own warmth to them, but as time passed, it was still too chilly.

Lewis inhaled sharply, looking down at Vivi with bright pink eyes as he tried to pull his own thoughts away from how insanely cold he was, “Vivi, how did you and Arthur meet?” he whispered, still wide awake as he pulled his sleeping bag just a little bit closer to his chin, “He said you met a long time before I knew either of you, yet you guys are like night and day. How did you two actually, you know, tolerate each other for so long?”

The girl reached up to tussle her hair quickly before pulling her fingers back into the growing warmth of the blankets. This was a little hard for her, the time she met Arthur being her all time low in terms of emotional stability. Even thinking back to her childhood was hard with the memories she had made there, and she kind of wished that she didn’t have them to begin with. She looked at her hands, hardly opening her eyes as she spoke silently to her friend, “Well, you know I lived in the slums my whole life. My mother was dead, my father was as good as dead...I didn’t really have anyone in my life at that point. I guess I felt I needed to protect anyone who was anywhere as lonely as me, without friends or family or hope-I wanted to make a connection,” Vivi pushed her glasses onto the couch’s armrest, exposing her torso to the cold once more before diving back into the comfort of the nest she rested in, “I saw him walk beneath my window every day for three years, even prior to being so lonely. One day, a pack of bullies followed him with no good intentions, and so I beat them up before they could do the same to him.”

Lewis looked genuinely surprised, his eyes widening as he looked at the short, chubby girl in front of him, “You, really?”

She nodded, “Yeah, I’m actually really muscular beneath all of this fluff, you kind of have to be in a place like where I grew up,” her eyes were closed again, and she was smiling to herself with fondness towards the memory, the moment she had found someone to love like family, “I jumped off of my balcony and landed in front of him, taking the punch that was thrown at him before it could reach the poor kid. He says he thought I was an angel, the way I fell from the sky like that.” She finished, speaking as silently as was possible for the naturally boisterous young lady. Lewis was smiling with laughter in his throat.

“I can see that.”

Vivi mimicked his grin, blushing and smiling profusely as she continued, “He said my arms were thrown back like spread wings, and my headband a blue halo on the top of my head. Afterwards, i guess we two lonesome teens just became best friends.” she was smirking into her blanket, continuing to recall the good memories, “We have our rituals: every Friday, we eat at a restaurant, where he has to order his own food and at least try to look the waiter in the eyes, and whenever we have a TV we have to play Mario Kart, but I always beat him. We’ve been like that for at least ten years, now that I think about it. I was eleven and he was nine.”

Lewis yawned, tightening his grip on his blankets and looking at Vivi through half closed eyelids, “What about Mystery?”

“I basically just found him on the side of the road in a box labelled ‘free’. He was the last mutt of the litter, I don’t know why no one wanted him,” Vivi recalled to Mystery’s chagrin, clearly insulted by the name she had called him and any of his brethren, if they existed, “Sorry, bud, but it’s true: I have no clue what the hell you are. I dyed him all up when Arthur told me to turn his hair that amber-orange color for fun, and we all really liked the red along with the black and white when it was all said and done.” She patted the dog on the back with a rough hand, knowing that he wouldn’t mind the extra bit of attention. The dog looked as though he were going to hold a grudge, but after glaring at her for a bit, he forgave the insult and continued to snooze between the two.

Lewis was quiet for a time, strolling through his own mind at a leisurely pace along his memories, thoughts, and dreams. He looked around the van, and it hit him that, just a few months ago, he would never have imagined a life like this, sighing to himself in his little state of bliss, “I can’t believe how fast all of this is going. I mean, I didn’t even know you three a few months ago, and here we are, hundreds of miles from home and sleeping in the back of a little old van. It’s all kind of surreal, but I feel like I’ve known you both forever.” Lewis wandered, looking up at the ceiling happily. Even if it was unexpected, he couldn’t say that this life wasn’t the most fun he’d ever had, and he was actually kind of relieved that he could distance himself from his family, if even just a little bit.

“I guess we were all ready for a new friend. I don’t know about Arthur, but I was starting to feel a little lonely with only him and I hanging out for so many years, I just had to...I don’t know, spread my wings a little, find someone new to latch onto. Plus, you know so much useful stuff about ghosts…”

“It runs in the family alongside a love of spicy food and the size-of-a-giant gene. My abuela hunted them full time, you know, travelling all around the continent and learning and trying all these new techniques. She left me so many amazingly annotated books; I just had to read them, add my own input and findings alongside hers, if there was anything she possibly missed,” his gaze turned thoughtful, “maybe someday, I’ll pass it onto my children, or grandchildren even. How cool would that be, just a family of ghost hunters.”

Vivi nodded, glancing back over at her best friend on the couch, his snoring growing louder as the night progressed. Even if he could be a buzzkill during haunts, she really loved having him here, and she couldn’t imagine not having all four of them together, “I’m so glad that Arthur agreed to come along in the first place. He hates anything mysterious, scary, supernatural-well, you’ve seen him in even the tamest haunted houses, he’s near tears. I tried to get him to go ghosthunting with me all throughout our knowing each other, but he was adamant about staying safe and only taking jobs he knew for a fact weren’t haunted. He was too busy trying to keep himself safe, he never really explored.”

“I don’t think that’s necessarily true,” Lewis interjected, thinking aloud and surprising himself with how accusatory his tone sounded, “I think he just wanted to keep you out of any trouble he couldn’t get you out of, and thats why he came along with us in the first place. To keep you safe in a way, to make sure you didn’t end up dead or in pain. He’s just keeping an eye out for his friend is all.”

Vivi shook her head, somewhat irritated by the thought, “Maybe, but it’s not like he needs to protect me. I’m more than strong enough to protect him and myself both.”

Lewis was yawning again as Vivi curled her knees even closer to her chest, blue eyes growing tired as her blankets reached the optimal temperature and she began to relax even deeper into the soft nest around her, “There are storms we cannot weather by ourselves. I’m sure you’ll need him someday just as much as he needed you back then, and he understands that too.”

With that thought, Vivi began to daydream of the future they would hold together and what it would mean for the four of them as they travelled around, scrambling for jobs and exploring the unknown. Money was scarce, but what they lacked in material wealth was made up with closeness and hope. They were far from their place of origin, hardly a memory within their young heads of the life they shared apart prior to, but with their wide hearts they made a home. Each of them had given up what might have been bright futures, lives of normalcy and comfort, for an adventure into the great darkness. None of them truly understood what they were stepping into, and frankly, none of them cared so long as they were all together in the end.

Vivi had been the manage of a used comics and books store, climbing the ranks after illegally working there at the age of thirteen by winning the hearts of her customers and coworkers, transforming with her smile the old and near abandoned store into the most beloved shop in town. With every moment she could spare, she learned of the supernatural world, reading books both fictional and probably real with wide eyes and the hope of a future shared with the ghosts and phantoms she so adored. After years upon years of research, speculation, and a little bit of doubt, she had left behind a well paying job and a brand new apartment for a best friend, a stranger, and a van of what to her was gold. Every ounce of her soul had gone into the making of this team, and she loved with every bit of her heart the life she had stumbled so blindly into.

Arthur, only nineteen, was well on his way to inheriting his Uncle Lance’s mechanic shop, running it himself half of the time and fixing vehicles in back with the little bit of time he had left. The boy had a gift with metal, and knew the maze within the hood of a car as though it were a children’s ten-piece puzzle: it was a little too easy without any form of challenge to him. When the old orange Westy came into the shop with an order for scrap metal and overall destruction, nothing could’ve stopped Arthur from taking on the project, and with a little bit of pleading on his part, his Uncle gave it to him as an early Christmas gift. Painted in his color and made to run good as new, he had left his world behind in the rearview mirror of the orange van, trading everything he knew and thought he loved for the love of the best friend he knew he couldn’t live without. Nothing but Vivi kept him in this, even as Lewis grew on him, and Arthur was always stuck with one foot in the door in preparation to bolt.

Lewis, after graduation, had worked as a waiter, dishwasher, and very occasional chef in his father’s restaurant. After his amazing achievements academically in school, Lewis had big plans with a letter to Harvard in his abnormally large palms, hoping to one day bring smiles to the faces of sick and injured children as a pediatrician through one of the best pre-med schools in the world. When his parents had called upon him to help keep the restaurant running, knowing they couldn’t keep up shop without their multi-tasking master and secretly not wanting to lose him, he couldn’t say no, and so when he found his grandmother’s books just waiting to be read and an eager young ghosthunter wannabe, a part of him knew he needed to free himself of the responsibility and worry that came as the eldest son in a young family. His siblings were older now, his dreams as a doctor smothered in the strong-smelling spices of the kitchen, and the boy needed to truly spread his wings out, to experiment in a world of the unknown. He had given up the only thing he had ever known, his family with their trust wavering in him, for the thrill he had never received while babysitting and waiting tables. His love for them may have been an ocean, but sometimes you need the land to stand upon, a stage with which to raise yourself up; with ghosthunting, Lewis got just that.

Their new lives as adults fell as soon as they dawned, yet with the inferno and burning ash came the freshness of the soil and a promise of pure revival and growth. Vivi truly believed that, together, they could take any and all hardships that dared to attempt to sink her ship and fight through any situation or shadowy figure that might arise, just because they had each other. As she dozed, eyes growing heavy with the tiredness of lead, the blue girl grew optimistic and bright, and when her eyes finally closed she wore a smile on her face all throughout the night.

Everything would turn out fine.   


	3. A Portrait of the Ordinary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vivi dreams of her and Arthur's first meeting with Lewis, waking up to a new day and a new job. With the gorgeously Gothic house rising above them, and the suspicious behavior of the nature around them, it's hard to tell what this new job has in store-in any case, they will never be the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting this one out a little later than I would have hoped, but it's still technically Thursday! If you have any criticism, please please PLEASE help me out. I would love to use any reviews I receive from this to better my writing overall, and maybe lead me to a job as an author. Thanks in advance!

As Vivi dreamed, she saw Lewis for the first time.

It was a nearby memory, surfacing to the top of her mind from only five months prior at a home long since abandoned and probably better forgotten: the high school all three of them had gone to at one point in their lives, if graduating at different years. Arthur, a super senior by only a few credits, was forced to stay in the prison-like confinement by the pleading of his mother and uncle while Lewis, the straight A student, had despised the added stress and responsibility maintaining a stellar GPA had imposed upon him. To the girl in blue, though, her whole life had started in the high school of the small town they all originated from, even if she had this realization after she had graduated. With this high school, she had taken a step into becoming a ghost hunter, and had gained a valued friend along the way.

Arthur was by her side like he always was in these sticky situations, hands in his pockets as he smuggled the alumni into the school he was still, at nineteen, forced to go to, her having graduated three years before him. They had entered the school unnoticed with the custodians and teachers recognizing Arthur and probably assuming the very brightly dressed girl to be his sibling or friend, not caring enough anyway as the two wandered the halls in search of the fabled haunt, the mystery that Vivi had spent the entire week thinking about. She knew, with that sense of intuition she had always believed one hundred percent in, that this day was very, very important.

They tried to act casual and cool in the hallways with the few stragglers lagging behind, strolling to clubs and teachers’ rooms for tests only a few minutes after the last bell had rung and they were out for the weekend. It wasn’t until the two found their way into the boy’s bathroom on the second floor, the English wing, that they began to pull out piles of equipment  from their backpacks, purses, and pockets of all sorts. With laptop and machines in hand, they were ready to hunt for the supernatural that might lurk within the confines of this horrid institution. Vivi daydreamed of the angry ghosts of students working together to make those who were still victim to the horrors of learning into ghosts themselves, freeing tearful calculus and biology students from a fate worse than death; or, maybe, the gripping tale of a teacher who worked himself to death over grading papers, trying to warn his coworkers of the doom that would meet them if they tried to hard. Head swimming with dreams and tales, the two began working as quickly and effectively as two amateurs could.

“Okay, is everything set up, Arty? EVP recording? EMF beeping?” Vivi whispered to her companion with wonder filling her sky blue eyes, curiosity and awe rolling off of her in contagious waves of optimism and attempted professionalism. She straightened herself out, trying to present herself as a completely-in-control adult, “I’ll try and talk to the ghost, try and communicate in some way. You ready?”

Arthur glanced around the bathroom he had skipped class in, not seeing anything that amazing in the tiled floors and poorly painted walls, “What is this, the case of Moaning Myrtle?” he scoffed silently.

The girl shot a sideways glance at her best friend, taking this moment very seriously as he began snickering at his own joke and trying his hardest to get her into his little bout of laughter. She faked a laugh, thick with sarcasm, and walked into the handicapped bathroom stall with her ridiculous coworker tagging closely behind. Once inside, she closed the door and set down the laptop and gear, grabbing only a laser thermometer as the devices the two had set up began to beep slowly and consistently, showing that they were ready for whatever the blue girl threw at them. Vivi swept her laser thermometer through the room, standing on the toilet in order to get a full view of the bathroom with the laser passing over everything. There was nothing yet.

She cleared her throat, somewhat terrified as she did so. If the descriptions were anything to go by, there was always some sort of banging about in the stalls despite there not always being someone inside, and people found strange and cryptic messages hidden in places that were impossible to reach without a ladder. This was all word of mouth, picked up by Arthur as he went by with his daily life in the school he so hated, and Vivi had the sneaking suspicion that he had lied to her in order to get off with an easy, non-existent hunt. Still, it sounded like pretty ghosty stuff to Vivi, and even if her first time ghost hunting was a lie, she would still appreciate the experience with Arthur. Her voice began to falter as she spoke up, fearing that she might not be addressing them correctly as she lifted her voice into the noiselessness of the bathroom.

“Is there anyone in here?” She asked, excitement filling the caution that had left her paralyzed before. As long as she could remember, Vivi had loved exploring the unknown and venturing onto the paths less travelled by those around her, but never had she ever dared to raise her voice to the supernatural. She was awaiting an answer in any form-a thump, a bump...maybe even a voice in the tragically empty bathroom-just something to show her that she wasn’t in fact crazy and that, with a little time, maybe she could come to understand the world she was so curious and in the dark about. With every ounce of her tiny being, she hoped with the determination of a child that someone would answer back to her, that someone would help her to truly understand what she so adored and worshipped.

“...Yes?”

Vivi felt her excitement flare like a fire fed with gasoline, nearly stumbling off of the toilet as the burst of surprise overcame her and Arthur both in the flames of disbelief and wonder. With eyes bright as candles and her voice nearly squeaking with anticipation at the hunt ahead, she didn’t take time to notice that none of the monitors had hinted at paranormal activity, and she definitely didn’t stop to ponder that ghosts never actually spoke to humans in a way that they could truly understand upon hearing. She was so caught up in her joyful paradise, so stuck in the heat of the moment, that Vivi was lost in the possibilities that were now presented before her.

“Who are you?” She steadied her voice, trying to ask as quickly as her control might allow. This was no time to show that she was weak or easily swayed for fear that the ghost might latch onto that excitement, that willingness to expose herself to the supernatural-she had read that in one of the books at her work, one that had been recommended heavily by its seller. Even if the man had appeared to be lying, she didn’t want to test the fates in a situation like this.

As she waited for an answer, there was a very disheartening silence, the voice hesitating for much longer than a few heartbeats to gather his thoughts before speaking back to the eager young woman. With every passing moment, Vivi began to lose faith in anything supernatural actually being in this stuffy little bathroom, wondering if maybe she had heard nothing. Had it just been a toilet flushing in the girl’s restroom right next door? Were they standing on the toilet of the boy’s bathroom for no reason? The blue girl honestly did not want to know the answer unless it was positive.

Then, from the silence there was a voice, divine upon her ears and more than enough to reassure Vivi that she was not, in fact, alone in this bathroom, “Uhm, my name is Lewis.”

Whoever this phantom was, he sounded terribly uncomfortable and confused; not exactly the bumping and thumping monster Vivi had expected when she had pictured the job, but you can’t always get everything in life. She guessed that maybe he was a very controlled spirit taking into consideration him having a clear, human-like voice and the ability to mimic emotions as he did. Her eyes closed happily, and she smiled wider than the world could possibly handle.

Arthur broke her glee, giving her legs a brisk shake as she stood their humming happily to herself, “Viv, I don’t think-”

“Shush, Art! You might scare it away. I got this.” Vivi defended, pulling her shoulder away from the grasp of her companion somewhat aggressively and without truly hearing him out, knowing he would want to bolt now that his rumors and speculation had ended up being true. Once again she raised her voice with her friend gripping her socks for dear life, “Now, spirit, what do you want in this realm?”

The pause was even longer this time, spanning several painfully slow and aching seconds with nothing but the beating of her wild heart and the grinding of Arthur’s teeth. Vivi knew the ghost was there, she knew he had entered the bathroom and was willing to talk, but what would his purpose be? Her hands tightened their grip on the thermometer, and the voice began to answer back with speech a little quieter and just a tad embarrassed. Vivi knew that she would worship these words, the final wish of a wandering soul trapped within the plane of human existence, for the rest of her career in ghost hunting and possibly the rest of her life.

“I really just need to piss is all.”  

Arthur smacked his face hard and dramatically with a hand, looking at Vivi through the cracks of his fingers with mingled disappointment and a little bit of an ‘I told you so’ attitude. Despite these actions denoting superiority as though Arthur was bragging, his own embarrassment of believing for even a moment that there was a ghost in the bathroom seeped from his pores like a wild sweat on a sweltering hot summer day. Arthur was blushing just as hard, if not harder, than Vivi herself.

“Oh.” she looked down with her eyes closed and her teeth biting her lip gently, avoiding eye contact with Arthur as her face began to resemble a ripe tomato, contrasting heavily with the blue of her hair and dress, “Well, go ahead then.”

This silence was a lot deeper than anything she had experienced before, the many tones of embarrassment rendering it much longer and quieter than it should have been. You could hear a pin drop on the tile floors surrounding the three young adults, and after a few very long, awkward moments, the sound of liquid hitting porcelain rang throughout with the echoing boom of thunder, louder than it should’ve been without anything to cover it up. As a zipper snap, the sink run, and the door open and close in farewell, Vivi and Arthur broke into possibly the world’s most ridiculous and uncontrollable fit of laughter, leaving the two gasping for air.

When they finally exited the bathroom, sides heaving and breathing heavy and laborious, a very well-built man with a face much redder than Vivi’s had ever been was waiting for them to arrive. His amazingly pink hair accented the hues of blush upon his cheeks, and overall, the pompadour-wearing buffoon  looked very goofy as he confronted the two on the happenings of the bathroom. With his appearance less than intimidating and the situation something to laugh at, he wasn’t a threat to Arthur, and Lewis had entered their lives with stomach screaming with laughter and little to no warning or transition.

One day, he was non-existent. The next, a valued friend.

Even if Arthur hadn’t immediately fallen head over heels for their new friend, visiting the school to find his younger brother and using the bathroom when he had failed to locate him, he had grown tolerant of their new coworker with time and even came to call him a friend as he learned that, just maybe, he could trust the oaf with the build of a weight lifter. He granted him privileges that even Vivi wasn’t allowed, things that he felt he could only bestow to Lewis and Lewis alone, such as driving the Mystery Skulls van or sleeping in the motels with him as money situations required. They even sometimes confided secrets in each other, but mainly their time was spent screaming at a television set with Gamecube controller in hand. As the second month ended and Arthur truly felt that he could fully accept Lewis, he gave to him the greatest gift the socially awkward teen could gift, a shiny new nickname made especially for him.

Somehow and by some great chance, the three opposites had come together, and by some fate they just happened to fit together perfectly without force or struggle. If Vivi and Arthur were day and night, Lewis was the twilight in between that was neither and both at the same time. Without him, they had been the force that held each others world together, but as he crept upon them and embraced the two shorties close to his chest, Lewis had brought them even closer together by appealing to both. With him, they became more than a force necessary to survive: they became happy, purely, simply, and truly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Rise and shine, lazybones!” Arthur shouted, lifting a hand and banging loudly on the roof of the van with his metal rings and a grin lighting his usually frowning face, “Pinky, can you give her a shake or two? You know how that girl is.”

She was still dozing, in that state of unfocus yet strange awareness and presence without a true plan or purpose in life, what to her was the greatest plane of existence. This came to an end as the words sank in and she realized her fate and what was to come. Opening her eyes swiftly and throwing her torso forward in a display of utter awakeness, Vivi cried out before anyone could lay a hand on her, “I’m up, I’m up!”

Lewis was leaning over to give her a firm push or two, planning in his head how he would wake her up this morning. He had to admit, coming up with new, creative ways to break her from slumber was always a fun activity, and her recent ability to rise at will was somewhat of a downer to the boy as he leaned back into the couch cushions. To Vivi, it was a relief.

Arthur was driving now, his orange teased hair sticking out from his short body and over the back of the seat like a beacon of flames calling to the Mystery Skulls and leading them onwards towards their next job. His hands, clenched firmly on the wheel, rocked back and forth just slightly, a very unique and interesting way in which he kept his car on the road with the slight wiggling of the van, back and forth. In the rearview mirror, Vivi saw his orange eyes flick up to look at her and fill with laughter as he steadied his gaze back onto the road ahead, finding something about his friend humorous as he continued to drive.

“Nice hair, Smurf. I daresay it rivals the mop of our friend Lewis in ridiculousness, A+ to you my friend.”

She pulled her hands to her head quickly, knowing beforehand how silly her hair could turn out after a night spent tossing and turning in the van without the confines of a mattress and the fear of falling off. Her hands tussled the soft yet noticeable kinks and overall random placement of her fluffy locks as the van bounced along, her face sporting a bright new smile as she pictured how messy she must look.

“How long until we’re there, Arty?”

The ginger looked down at the map on his knee, tracing the forest paths with his eyes while keeping trace of the road in front of him, a dangerous but fairly easy task. With venom in his voice, still a little bit offended by the hit on his proud hairdo, Lewis answered back quickly before Arthur could gather his bearings and report his findings back to their leader, Vivi, “About five minutes.”

Arthur glared a little bit at the older boy, wondering if maybe he should retaliate himself but thinking better of it and looking back at the road with no more than a little bit of a glance. He’d get back at him later.

Vivi hadn’t caught their little bit of bickering, more worried about how horrible she must look to actually care, “Shit. You got a hairbrush, Lulu?”

Lewis began to rummage through his personal duffel bag of toiletries, taking almost no time in responding to the girl’s request as he plunged his large hands deep into the unknown endlessness within, “Only if you stop calling me that.” he teased. By the depths his arm had reached, Vivi feared his arm would never surface again from the black hole he had so carelessly entered.

“No can do, ghost-boy. It’s too cute a name to give up.”

She snatched the brush from his hands with a flare of attitude and a grin to match, skillfully using the rearview mirror to adjust the roaring ocean atop her calm head, attempting to tame the wildest and bluest of seas as they pushed up against her defiantly. Each stroke of her hand was a wave in the water, but like waves, her hair went back to its original and messy state with every pulse she sent through it. She fought valiantly and without mercy, but after awhile, she gave in as she usually did and placed her head band on like a crown and watched as her hair swept dramatically forward. Someday, she was going to invest in a quality straightening iron.

The car was slowing down now, bumping wildly on the gravel roads they had turned on to. Lewis was fixing his own outfit carefully, always conscious of his appearance as he straightened his neckerchief and pulled his vest down tightly over his wide, barrel chest. He was an overload of pinkish purple, like powdered grape candy, and Vivi just had to snicker at how ridiculous he could look and act sometimes.

“You look fine, Lew. Relax, we’re not even meeting our clients until we finish the hunt, and even then, I’ll be doing the talking. The ghosts won’t care how ridiculously adorable your hair is.” Vivi reassured with a little compliment, straightening him up a little herself when she went over to hand him his hairbrush again. He shook his head at the misunderstanding, running the brush through his hair himself as he did so with the tenderness of a mother to a baby.

“That’s not it, I just like to look nice,” He looked down at his lap in thought, placing the item back into the bag of neverending abyss,”I never had time to take care of my appearance before, what with dishes and waiting tables and babysitting and homework. Now that I have the time, I might as well make up for the years lost.”

“Fair enough.” Vivi backed off a little, allowing him to finish pruning his feathers carefully and attentively with a goofy smile on her face. Even if she laughed at him, she loved how much the little things mattered to him, and secretly she respected his ability to always look perfect despite the situation-it may have come naturally to him, but that didn’t mean his constant grooming didn’t help. He was like a movie character come to life, always in the correct light and with just the right angle...from every angle.

The van had pulled to a stop, screeching slightly as it did so and, with a tinge of childish excitement, Vivi ran to the window of the van to catch the first glimpse of their new job just as she always did. With every hunt they grabbed, her body was filled with the anticipation and adrenaline of a little kid on Christmas Eve, that inability to sleep translating to the happy humming that everyone but she noticed as she suctioned her hands to the glass. She was painfully aware of the fact that, each and every time, the houses never ended up blowing her mind like she hoped they would with their usually timid and tame outward appearance, but she still couldn’t help herself. Who in their right mind would buy a clearly haunted house? Not many was the answer, and so she was often left to gawk at the most mundane of houses when they began to investigate.

This time, she was left breathless.

In front of them, a heavily gothic-style mansion rose from a thick base of black thorns and into the grey sky like a tower to the heavens, boasting its two stories and boarded windows with silent pride and glory. The inside was hidden in shadow, veiling whatever waited for them within in silence and mystery: just the thing she loved, the thing she craved most of all. The black and grey base, highlighted only by the green grass below it, left a dark and menacing impression upon the team of four, and as she gazed lovingly upon it, Vivi reveled in her dream house straight from the distant past.

“It’s...beautiful.” She whispered into the glass separating her from her destiny, voice growing breathy and almost non-existent as she pulled a hand to the window. With her exhale, the mansion looked as though it were covered in fog, giving it that mystical feeling she so loved and adored. Definitely and without a doubt, Vivi had fallen in love with this house.

Arthur shrugged, pulling out his orange 3DS and powering it up, “Looks pretty broken down to me, but whatever floats your boat I guess. You two got this haunt?”

Reluctantly and without tearing her eyes from her dream within reality, Vivi nodded, using all of her power to break out of her awe to grab the notes from her phone call with the clients, “We got it. Client reported multiple, lesser ghosts haunting the mansion. They don’t attack, but they try and scare away anyone who enters the house: not exactly prime real estate, the guy says.”

The sound of Smash Brothers rose from the driver’s seat as Arthur shut off the car and turned away from his friends, not caring to mute his game as Lewis and Vivi prepared to discuss their plan of action, “Well, if it isn’t too dangerous, you won’t need a mechanic anyway,” he turned around slightly, gesturing a goodbye to his teammates without really taking his eyes off of the screen, “go ahead, stay safe, whatever.”

Vivi nodded, taking the advice very seriously as she readied herself for the possibilities ahead of her and Lewis, “Do you think we’ll need any gear?”

Lewis shook his head with confidence in his own judgment, “Sounds like they’re pretty tame compared to our last job. I say my abuela’s methods will work just fine.”

Lewis lifted the back of the van noiselessly, hopping down with a hard thud onto the gravel beneath his feet and the car’s tires while Vivi, who was more in control of her weight and gravity, landed with silence and grace. From outside with the light shining magnificently and the smudges of dog slobber on the window no longer impairing her vision, Vivi observed that the house was even more beautiful and majestic that she had originally thought.

The two began to walk forward with slow steps, approaching the vines that wrapped around the house as they began to tighten protectively around the house, hugging and embracing it lovingly. This place was without a doubt haunted, and no ordinary ghost had such control over nature-even Vivi, who had only read a few accurate books on the matter, knew that this was much more serious than she had originally thought.

“Was there anything else that the client may have mentioned to you, maybe a side note that you didn’t write down?” Lewis pried, approaching the doorstep timidly now. Their last ghost hunt had been described as a mischievous, sprite-like spirit with a knack for pranks but who had never actually physically harmed anybody when in all actuality, it was a very strong and very angry demon who nearly killed the three and left all but Arthur with temporary blindness and muscle spasms that they couldn’t figure out how to cure for over a week. Even Mystery was left to stumble about with no way of knowing what was going on, and though they were paid handsomely, it left the team somewhat bitter and without any jobs for a lot longer than they liked to go without work.

Vivi shook her head, recalling the event herself, “The ghosts hum when they think they have an audience, but they were described as your stereotypical bedsheet type. The client gave me no reason to suspect anything more or less.”

Lewis had grown thoughtful, paused in front of the thorns while his eyes observed them carefully, “The reaction of the vines is curious. Either these are very benevolent or very strong phantoms, and by the sound of it, they aren’t very friendly.” Lewis recalled, leaving a wide gap between him and the taunting thorns as he began walking towards the entrance to the house again. Vivi followed suit, following close behind.

“What should we do?”

Lewis thought for a moment, lifting his hand to frame his chin dramatically as he bit his lip and looked up into the distance, in every way a portrait of the most typical expressions, “I’m hoping against all odds that these ghosts are benevolent, maybe young. If that’s the case, they should listen to us without much trouble on our part.”

Vivi sighed a little bit, knowing that none of what he was expecting was very likely, “And if they aren’t”

“Well,” Lewis smiled back, gripping the door handle bravely and bracing himself to push it open, “then we run.” 


	4. Pale Things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis and Vivi enter the ghost house and are dazzled by what lies within. As Vivi revels in the beauty of the new world surrounding her, Lewis feels the stirring of a sleeping emotion which he fears to entertain. To Lewis, no ghost hunt had ever scared him as much as this one did.

It took Lewis a few moments to gather his wandering thoughts before he could even begin to open the door into the mansion, worrying now so he didn’t suffer later. He believed that many bad things could be prevented by just a little bit of foresight, and he would rather cover every base mentally right now so that he didn’t run into trouble physically inside the mansion, where he wouldn’t have anywhere to run. Something inside of him said that, after today’s mission, he would not be the same person. Lewis really didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

After the last job they took, they had been left crippled for seven days and probably would have been six feet under if Vivi hadn’t worked her magic-like intuition to save them, distracting and calming the demon they faced before dispelling it back into the netherworld where it came from. Arthur had tripped as they ran, falling directly into the demon’s path and straight into the arms of a clear death when the girl had stopped running, turned around, and faced the demon with the courage of a superhero, saving her friend as though they faced raging demons every Wednesday. While Vivi had looked back upon the excursion as proof of their teamwork and an overall gripping, exciting experience, Lewis was painfully aware of how close one-if not all-of them had come to losing their life.

He glanced at his hands, large enough to completely enclose the door handle and growing slightly sweaty as the handle absorbed and reflected his heat, his mind jumping to the ghost hunt ahead of them. These ghosts could be so much more than they seemed, and Vivi might not be able to tap into that killer instinct like she had before. Lewis thought briefly of his sibling and family, along with where he would be if he hadn’t met Vivi and Arthur. Harvard had opened up to him with the promise of pre-med, his father’s restaurant could’ve been his in time, a life with a family was still a possibility if he only turned around and forgot entirely of this life he was now leading. In no way did he have to do this, he was only forced by the an obligation to an elderly woman long dead and gone, someone who wouldn’t care either way.

And yet, in a way, there was no way he could turn his back to this world he had discovered. There was too much to learn, too much to see, and whereas the great adventurers of the past had continents to discover and explore, he had in front of him an entire realm of possibilities. His curiosity swelled with every word spoken from a client’s mouth, every bump in the night that lead them to a new haunt, every book his abuela had left specifically for him in the hopes that he would follow in her footsteps.

Plus, Vivi loved the chase so much. He could never leave her hanging.

So, without further ado, Lewis forced the doors open slowly and then all at once with the knowledge that he had chosen his life. The iron had grown warm in his grasp, and as his muscles clenched to push the door in, Vivi huddled behind him in childish anticipation, peering over the wide shoulders of the boy and into the house she had fallen so in love with. The wood gave way, and as the cobwebs and plaster fell onto their heads from far above, Lewis watched Vivi’s eyes fill with wonder just as they had early that morning.

She whispered an exclamation under her breath, entering the room as though she were entering a dance with her feet soundless upon the wooden floors and her arms spread as she tried to absorb everything that she was seeing and feeling. Her hands ran along the peeling wallpaper, striped with light and dark purple, fondling the tears and rips gently and with a curious kindness. She looked ahead and into the long hall in front of them, adorned with candles all along the wall as it spread into a beautiful and grand foyer with tall stairs and an intricate iron chandelier, the imprints of hearts shining from every corner and every painting with the happiness and promise of love. Lewis had to admit, even if it looked a little bit beat up on the outside, he felt like he belonged in this place, as though it were his home.

“How about we leave the ghosts and buy the place off of him? This mansion is gorgeous.” Vivi gasped, stopping to lightly caress one of the wax candles upon the wall in the hallway, still sticking straight up from its candlestick. As she poked the wax, dry after cooling, she noticed that it was still slightly warm to the touch, “How odd…”

Lewis didn’t catch that last bit, “Even haunted, we’d never have enough money to buy such a beautiful piece of land, but I do agree. This place has to be at least-”

Vivi interrupted him with a quick inhale of breath, pointing into the hallway with a hand lifted to cover her gaping mouth. Lewis whipped around to look at her, startled by the sudden noise and slightly on edge after overthinking his entrance and what might be waiting for him and Vivi inside the haunted house. As he ran through all the possibilities in his head, each one ending with Vivi dying and her gasp being the last thing he ever heard escape from her mouth, he was met not with dread and terror and loss but with a pleasing sense of stupefaction.

Just as he was turning around, the candles within the hallway began lighting themselves on by one, their flames bright and orange as they flared into life. As the rows were lit together, each new flame bounced up faster and faster, as though the anticipation of company was fueling each and every one of them to burst into existence. They greeted the two eagerly and brightly, and with the candles lit, Vivi and Lewis could see more within the beautifully crafted mansion.

As the chandelier burst into light, so pushed by the beginning of fire that it swayed back and forth with the creaking of its chain, Lewis felt a weight lifted off of his heavy chest. Just as he had expected, a ghost with such control over the nature outside of his home could only be two things: very benevolent, or very strong. With the lights switched on and the two greeted warmly, it was easy for him to see which one it was.

No monster of the night would dare hunt where the light reigns, true and fair.

He brushed himself off slightly, embarrassed by his over reaction earlier and  hoping no one had noticed, “I think this place is safe enough. Should we head further, or do you think they’ll come and find us eventually?”

“Uh-huh.” Vivi mumbled, not quite listening to her companion as she nodded her head in an attempt to prove that she was, in fact, totally focussed on what he was saying. Hew mouth was still wide open as she walked further into the hallway, slowly teasing the flames with her hands as she watched the candles closely. Within her blue eyes, there was a spattering of curious stars that gazed into the orange flames with adoration and wonder. She was oblivious to the world around her at the moment; it was just her and that tiny candle within her own universe, her little void.

She began whispering to herself in wonderment, not even loud enough for Lewis to hear as she went through everything in her head, grasping onto the memory as it was made so she could file it away forever. He loved the way the girl reacted to every ghost hunt, even if her clear curiosity and overall lack of fear had gotten them into quite a few difficult scrapes in the past. When anything supernatural was even implied towards her, she lit up like the candles she was so immersed in without even trying to control her childish reactions and joy. Lewis had to admire her-even if he loved the paranormal, he could never run blindly into the unknown like she did. With her, everything was based on the simplest of feelings and emotions, every action she partook in due to the strong urges and recommendations of the heart that beat in her chest; with him, it was a fragile dance of rationalization and curiosity

Her passion made her beautiful in his eyes. Scratch that, she was always beautiful, but the light in her eyes when she fell in love with a mystery was a bonfire, and though the fireplace of her casual smiles and glances may be warm and bright, during her affairs with their investigations of the night she was a whirlwind of heat and light.

Lewis basked in that glow for a few moments before inhaling briskly, flinching dramatically as though he had been pushed back by an invisible palm to the chest. It hit him so suddenly, so fast, he hadn’t the time to even recognize truly and fully the rush of blood throughout his extremities, the feeling of electricity from his spine that spread to the tips of his fingers and toes. He shook his head, turning away from her so that she wouldn’t notice his tiny crisis while so hypnotized by her little flame. Lewis gripped a hand to his punctured heart, trying his best to pull the arrow that must of pierced it in order to make him feel so light-headed, so breathless, so out of control. It wasn’t true, it couldn’t be, he wouldn’t let it be.

He couldn’t love Vivi.

The boy tried to dissuade himself, tried to turn the emotion away with the power of his will. She was older than him, he had only known her for five months, he still didn’t know that much about her or her life, he didn’t want to ruin the only friendship he had really, truly had...but the heart doesn’t listen to the musings of the brain, and, cheeks flushed, he looked down at the hand over his heart with a little bit of frustration.

Vivi and Arthur had found him when he needed them the most. With all the responsibilities he had faced throughout his life, never had he been given a day off to socialize and have a little bit of fun save for when he was with his siblings. Even if he had been given a little bit of freedom, everyone his age thought he was going to beat them up, what with his terrible size and shadowed face. Maybe he was just mistaking a very powerful platonic love for something more? He had never really had best friends before. It was possible, but he had to wonder whether or not it was likely.

“Lewis. Look.”

The boy shook his head, ridding himself as best he could of his thoughts and worried to look back at the girl who caused so much turmoil within him. They had a job to do, and if he was going to get it done, he had to ignore anything his heart might be trying to say for at least a little while longer.

“Are you seeing this?”

Lewis could hear a low humming now, lilting throughout the mansion in a humble waltz. He hadn’t fully comprehended it immediately, but as he remembered the description the clients had given him, he turned back towards Vivi with wide eyes. She stood her ground, bravery filling the eyes of the confronted as she was approached by one of the phantoms of the house. Nothing in the way she held herself resembled fear, only the courage that had Lewis so mesmerized as she was observed by the ghost in front of her. A few inches from her face, their target sang to her with a steady voice.

It was a pale thing, white as a bedsheet with eyes closed peacefully as though in sleep as it spun circles around Vivi. There was a gaping hole within its cheat, a heart-shaped indent alluding to a missing piece as it hummed, never opening its mouth yet filling the mansion so completely with his song. It was very curious of Vivi, and as its singing grew louder and more confident, he called for his brothers to appear from the walls and the shadows with the same song on their mind. Their separate harmonies creating a choir of sound, the two were soon surrounded by the voices of the dead.

Vivi’s curious new friends were whirling around her lazily, their tiny arms reaching to touch her hair or pat her sweater, but never quite reaching her before backing off, stunned for a second or two before continuing their whirlpool surrounding her. They wanted so bad to touch her, but every time they tried, something pushed them away as though they had been shocked. Vivi was more excited than Lewis had ever seen her.

“I’ve never seen ghosts congregate like this before! And the way they try and reach out to touch me...they might not know what they are, not fully. They might not even be human spirits! Did your grandma ever say anything about non-human ghosts? I’ve never seen anything like them before.” She had pulled a hand up to cover her chest, the fluttering of her lungs leaving her gasping with awe, “And their hearts...Lulu, it’s so sad.”

As she said his name, the ghosts stopped dancing around Vivi, their music pausing and their closed eyes opening to reveal a display of blazing orange, just like the still lit flames. They spotted Lewis standing a ways away from the girl, still not quite certain how he was supposed to handle the situation with his eyes wide and wary of the pale things surrounding her. They rushed to him, Vivi giggling as they swarmed the purple-haired boy with a new sort of vigor and began mimicking the behavior they had performed on her to Lewis; only this time, they fully touched him.

Their singing hurried as they caressed the boys pompadour, his arms, his back and shoulders. With each touch upon his magenta vest or stunned face, a pulse of purple-pink ran through their white bodies, the indentations of their hearts filling with an orange light as a beat attempted to start. Vivi was rambling on, observing everything with a light in her eyes and theories on her tongue while Lewis was still engrossed by the very unusual actions of the ghosts surrounding him. He hadn’t read anything about this sort of behavior-this may have been a new discovery, a totally different breed of ghost that his abuela had never encountered.

They opened their mouth now, ditching the light humming they had stuck to in order to repeat one syllable over and over again, a soft ‘mo’. With Lewis, their eyes stayed open and staring, observing him just as much as he did them.

Vivi, growing quiet as time went by and she lost material to talk of, watched in wonder as the ghosts began to disperse from the entryway of the mansion. Their eyes were closing as they left Lewis behind, the song coming to a silent and abrupt end as they phased through the walls, leaving just as soon as they had come without a trace of them having been there. Lewis heart sunk, his brain still fighting confusion as they left him behind.

“Wait!” he cried, trying to reach out and grab one by their tiny tail as it disappeared into a portrait of a finely dressed woman, but Vivi stopped him with a gentle touch to the shoulder. Usually, he would have ignored her and kept going, but the thoughtfulness in the way her fingers wrapped around his arm stopped him dead in his tracks, and he turned back around to look at the girl incredulously.

“It’s okay. They’re not ready to leave yet.”

He squinted at her, not quite believing what he was hearing from the mouth of a girl who never left a mystery unsolved, “No ghost is, that’s our job. We help them to find peace, to become ready,” He looked to the side, relaxing his gaze as he began to question what had happened earlier, “What did they want with me? Is that the key to giving them peace, is their something I have that they want?”

Vivi shook her head with an understanding grin upon her cheeks, “They aren’t your average ghosts, Lewis-they aren’t human, and so they don’t have desire, only duty. They’re waiting for someone.”

He sighed, looking at her from the corner of his eyes, “Let me guess, your intuition is working overtime?”

She nodded, “I don’t know how I know, Lulu, but I just do. Count this mystery solved, even if the ghosts are still running around this place. They’ll just have to wait this one out.” she grabbed his hand habitually, heading again towards the door they came through, “It wouldn't be right to dispel them when they’ve really done no harm. They’d just become angry, then. I’d love to explore this place a little more, but now's not the time. Ready to go?”

Lewis looked down at his large hand, clasped gently within Vivi’s chubby little ones. She had silenced him with the lump in his throat and the chill down his spine that he had felt when he had only just realized how he felt, unable to speak past the disorder in his mind. His face grew bright red, and he nodded quickly to try and prevent her from looking at him any longer. How would he ever be able to deal with these feelings and keep Vivi from suspecting something at the same time?

She smiled at his somewhat awkward nod, and, hands connecting the two, Lewis understood his prior premonition with a sudden stroke of lucidity. With the way he felt pumping through his veins, the Mystery skulls would never-no, could never-be the same again. 


	5. Stick Shifts and Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lewis can't talk to Vivi, he has to go to Arthur for help. As socially awkward as the ginger is, his heart is in the right place, and he really does want to keep his makeshift family together.

As Vivi opened up the back of the van, Mystery came out to greet them with his bunny tail wagging as much as it could at the sight of his favorite person, the girl who had taken care of him for seven years. She wrapped her arms around the dog in greeting, looking back with the expectation of riding in the back with Lewis to discuss the hunt, but instead was met with nothing as he hurried past her and into the front seat of the car.

Arthur glanced at Lewis, then at Vivi’s confused and somewhat hurt face. He powered down his Smash Bros. reluctantly, knowing something was amiss, “What’s up, you guys look like you saw a ghost.”

Arthur loved cheesy jokes.

“Yeah, we did. Quite a few, actually, it was amazing.” Vivi responded, shrugging off any sadness for her usual smile. She hovered close behind Arthur on the nearby   
couch, the dog in her lap.

“You guys were in and out super fast, did you get them?”

“No, they were waiting for someone.”

Arthur screwed up his eyebrows before starting the car again, “You’re really weird, Bubbles. You know that, right?”

Vivi’s smile was definitely sincere now-she loved that nickname, “Absolutely.”

As the car whirred on and Arthur began heading for the nearest town, the Mystery Skulls van was completely silent for probably the first time ever. When with friends, Arthur was a decent talker, and Lewis and Vivi could go at it for hours without breathing when it came to ghosts and the supernatural. Even when they were sleeping, Vivi chattered as if she were wide awake-this silence was terribly awkward, even for the boy who hated social interaction.

“So, uh...should we, you know, sleep in the van or get a motel tonight?” Arthur attempted conversation, lifting a hand to ruffle his ginger hair. He hated being put on the spot like this, even if technically no one was pushing him to say anything.

Vivi sat up a little, “Actually, we’re kind of low on money, so we sh-”

“A motel. Let’s do a motel.” Lewis, blushing brightly, interrupted, “I-I need to sleep in a bed.”

Again, it was silent. They exited the forest paths for the open road, and as Arthur smoothly transitioned from one gear to the other on the stick shift of the Westy, Vivi reached past him to click on the radio. In order to reach the radio, she had to reach above both Lewis and Arthur through the middle seat up front, jumping a little to give the ‘on’ button a push. Arthur looked beneath her to Lewis, who had turned even redder as he tried to distance himself from the girl.

No way. 

Arthur didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know what was going on. 

He stayed silent, looking back onto the road quietly while Maroon 5 blasted. Vivi, who had sat back down, swore under her breath and reached over again to start changing the channels, clearly not satisfied. 

It took all of Arthur’s willpower not to laugh like a maniac at Lewis’ pained face.

She finally settled on a station, leaning back and looking at the two boys for a few moments, clearly feeling sort of left out. 

See, Arthur thought to himself, this is why you don’t make friends. It’s too awkward.

Vivi had pulled out her notebook, her hand moving viciously back and forth as she wrote down the happenings of the hunt. Her eyes scanned the page at a mile a minute. Lewis was looking out the window, clearly wanting to be left alone.

With nothing else to do, Arthur continued to drive. 

The relief he felt once he merged onto the exit and into the small town of Golton was nearly tangible. There was no way they could stay silent, what with their clients waiting for the explanation they had to come up with. Really, there is no easy way to say ‘hey, your house is totally haunted but we chose to let the ghosts stay since they’re waiting for someone, sorry’. 

“Any plans on how to address our still-haunted clients?” Arthur asked Vivi, leaning his head back against the rest of his seat. She stayed silent for a few moments more, the sound of pencil quieted by the loudness of her thoughts.

“I guess we just have to tell them the truth. If we had used a ritual to get rid of the ghosts, they would have just become angry and done more damage to both the home and anyone in it. The house is...protecting them, in a way,” She looked up from her piece of paper, sighing very loudly, “Whoever they are waiting for must be very important.”

Arthur shook his head, “They’re ghosts, Viv. All ghosts are waiting for someone, and that someone is us. You should’ve gotten rid of them so we could at least receive our pay.”

Vivi hit him on the arm hard, “When you join us in a ghost investigation, you can make choices like that, scaredy-cat. How far are we from the client’s house?”

“He’s on the other side of town by the looks of it, so ten minutes tops.”

Lewis whirled around, “Can you drop me off near the motel? I didn’t sleep well last night, I think I need to rest.” He attempted to speak calmly, but the edge of his voice was thick with pleading.

Arthur didn’t believe him one bit-Lewis looked like he was ready to burst into a sprint if anything, “Sure, whatever. You got the money?” 

Vivi began rummaging through her pockets, pulling out a black wallet with the Halo of the Sun on it from Silent Hill, “I got it. How much you think you’ll need to get us two rooms, one night?”

Arthur answered back, “Just give him the wallet, it should only be twenty-five dollars a room I’d guess. How much we got to last us until the next job?”

“A hundred dollars in the wallet, but the emergency stash has a bit more.” She handed the wallet to Lewis, and he drew back his hand as though she had burned him. 

More than anything, this hurt Vivi the most.

Arthur stopped in front of the motel, but Lewis had opened the door and jumped out even before they were fully stopped. Mystery hopped out after him, probably sensing that the boy needed company. With that, Vivi and Arthur were alone as they had been for so many years prior.

Vivi climbed into the front seat as Arthur began to drive again, “Well, that was weird.” 

“I don’t know what I did. He clearly doesn’t want to look at me, or touch me...or anything, really,” Vivi sighed, looking down into her lap after she pulled on her seatbelt, “I hope I didn’t...I don’t know, scare him off. I like having more than one friend.”

Arthur threw his hands up dramatically, “Well I’m offended! I can’t believe you don’t want to spend the rest of your life with me and only me!” The ginger teased. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see her smirk a little bit, “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s just dealing with boy stuff. I’ll talk to him.”

Vivi’s eyes lit up, “Would you really? I know you hate confrontation…”

“You two are the only friends I got, even if you’re unhealthily obsessed with the afterlife and he’s a football player with poor hair choice. Can’t have you making it all awkward for me now, can I?”

She was smiling again, “You’re the best, Cheeto.”

He groaned at that, “I hate that name so much. I’m not that orange, you know.”

Vivi reached over to put a tuft of hair back into place on the ginger’s head, “It fits too well to give up.”

 

 

Arthur knocked briskly on the door pointed out to him by the lady at the front desk, leaving Vivi to sleep by herself in the room across the hall. The place was run down, broken, and overall nasty looking, but it was the only place in the small town of Golton, so it would have to do despite the very real chance that a murder might just take place, or that the very skimpy dressed lady and the very drunk man who had a bedroom next to them would be having the time of their lives. Arthur never liked to leave Vivi alone in settings such as this, but she was better at putting up with the bad motels than both Lewis and Arthur.

He hadn’t yet received a key to the room, and so he was really relying on Lewis to be awake. By the amount of time he was taking to reach the door, he might not have been lying when he said he was tired. As he raised his hand to knock twice, there was pounding as something-or someone-hit the floor, and then again as a large person nearly ran to the door.

He could feel the distress of the boy through wood. 

“Arthur, thank god. What took you guys so long?” Lewis whispered as Mystery nosed his way out of the room, heading straight to Vivi’s still open door. Arthur squeezed in and began to empty his pockets on the table, Lewis shadowing him like a scared puppy. 

“Well we did have to explain to our client that his house was still haunted and that we didn’t get rid of them since the ghosts were waiting for someone, which didn’t go so well. Vivi patched it up, but we still didn’t get paid. Then we picked up a quick dinner with the ten dollars Vivi took out of her wallet-we got you a super burrito, but Vivi couldn’t help herself.” Arthur apologized.

“It doesn’t matter, I really need your advice on something.” Lewis, still whispering, requested. Arthur sat down hard on the bed as it screeched under his weight.

“I’m not exactly a wise sage, you know. Vivi’s the one with good life advice, I just eat Doritos all day and play video games. Are you sure you shouldn’t ask her about it if it’s really that important?”

Lewis, pacing around the room very quickly, began to play with his fingers to avoid eye contact, “You see, that’s the thing: I can’t possibly talk to Vivi about this.”

Arthur gestured for his friend to sit down, “Go ahead then, let’s get this over with.”

“Thanks,” Lewis relaxed quite a bit, sitting down at the desk against the wall, “See, when Vivi and I were in the mansion, I realized something, and I don’t know how to address her about it. So, could you maybe help me out a little bit in coming up with ideas?”

Arthur’s eyes grew wide, “So I was right. I can’t believe this.”

Lewis was terribly confused, and Arthur’s reaction wasn’t helping one bit in calming him down. He stood up again, more distressed than ever, “What is it?”

“It’s so obvious, Scarf-Boy. I mean, the way you’ve been avoiding Vivi, how you tried so hard to get away when she leaned over to change the radio, how quickly you drew back when she tried to give you the wallet. I didn’t think it would happen so soon, but I guess it was inevitable, huh?” Arthur’s voice was quiet and breathy as he spoke mainly to himself. Lewis flinched.

“Is it really that obvious? Do you think Vivi can see it?”

Arthur nodded, “You know the girl has a killer sense of ESP. She was so worried that you were disgusted by her, and I can see why you would be. Listen, Lewis, I know what she may have told you was very stunning, but don’t treat Viv like this. She didn’t mean to.”

Lewis, no longer terrified, was just puzzled now, “Arthur, I don’t think we’re talking about the same thi-”

“Just hear me out here!” Arthur lifted a hand to silence his comrade, “I mean, I found it hard to talk to her for over a week afterwards, and she had been my friend for five years! But that doesn’t change who she truly is. Just be proud of the fact that she confided her deepest secret in you, and treat her like you always would.”

“You are totally off, Arthur. I thought you were on the right track but, my god, you’re so wrong!” Lewis, somewhat flustered, raised his voice, “She didn’t tell me a secret-I’d treat her the same anyway! It’s just...I realized that…”

Arthur was clueless, “What?”

Lewis inhaled deeply before nearly shouting at the top of his lungs, “I love her, Arty. I love her so fucking much.”

“Oh.” It was Arthur’s turn to be surprised. He glanced away from Lewis, somewhat conflicted about this turn of events. How could Pinky be in love with Vivi? For his entire life, Vivi had been his: she was his only friend, his best friend, his sister, his buddy, he had so much trouble sharing her with Lewis as friends, how would that change as lovers?

Then again, Vivi needed that attention. Arthur had watched her ‘adopt’ him, then Mystery, and finally Lewis. She searched for lonely people and tried to make them better, craving the attention that came from it in return. She had been a lonely child; maybe she needed someone to hold her at night.

Arthur closed his eyes and breathed slowly for a moment, opening them to grab Lewis’ hands quickly, “Do you remember what I told you when I taught you how to drive a stick shift, Lewis?”

The boy was puzzled again, nearly pulling back from Arthur’s touch, “Not to wear out the clutch?”

Arthur shook his head, “No, about Vivi.”

“Oh, yeah,” He remembered, “That her finding me wasn’t chance.”

Arthur nodded “She chose to find you. It wasn’t the stars aligning to send you to the bathroom at that exact moment, and it definitely wasn’t fate or destiny-she needed you for some reason, she still does. Don’t ask me how that works, I don’t understand the girl fully after ten years together,” Arthur confessed, dropping the large hands of his friend, “Her will is the strongest force in the universe. I told her I didn’t want any new friends, no ghost hunts, I didn’t even want to leave home.   
Next day, she finds someone I can actually get along with who loves ghosts and wants to travel with us around the world? That ain’t coincidence.”

Lewis scratched the back of his neck, “Your point?”

“The point is, Vivi needs you, just as much as she needs me and vice versa. Whether that’s platonic or romantic is for you to find out,” Arthur stood up now, walking over to the TV across from the bed, “If you don’t tell her, she’ll figure it out eventually, so it might as well be from your mouth, you know?”

“I guess you’re right.”

“So, tell her whenever you’re ready. Until then,” Arthur held up two video game cases, “Which one, Smash Bros. or Mario Kart? I want to take advantage of this TV, and the Gamecube is just pleading me to play it.”

Lewis smiled, eagerly grabbing Mario Kart from Arthur and popping it into the already setup console, “I’m going to wreck you on Rainbow Road.”

Arthur grabbed the console as the screen flipped on, the plinking of the Gamecube logo filling the room with nostalgia, “You’re on, Loverboy.”


	6. Tired Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mystery Skulls have a new job that pays incredibly well compared to what they're used to, but it could possibly be the most dangerous hunt they've experienced yet. Despite this, the temptation of good pay, pizza, and a visit with family may be a little too much to turn it down.

Vivi clicked off the phone, a smile lighting her face, “We got a job!”

Lewis looked up from his abuela's book, highlighter in hand. Even a week after his stunning realization, he was dazzled by the brightness of the girl in front of him. He struggled not to stutter, “What’re we dealing with?”

“Well, there’s a corn maze down by our old home town-you know the Shrocker family?-and they’ve actually been having quite a few problems with the haunted aspect of it.”

Lewis cocked his head, “You mean to say their haunted corn maze is actually haunted?”

“Looks like. They keep finding dead bodies in the maze, so at first they thought it was just an opportunistic murderer, but...he says there have been other weird things. The corn maze itself has changed, and everytime him or the police try to tear through it, they end up back at the beginning of the maze with no luck.” Vivi explained, glancing over her notebook as she read.

Arthur, driving the van up front, was not digging the job so far, “Whoopee, a potentially deadly chase through a corn maze in the dead of night. What better way to spend our Halloween?”

Vivi closed her book, “It pays well, a solid $2000.”

This piqued Arthur’s interest. Currently, they were allowed five dollars a day for meals each-if Vivi’s math was correct, that would give them enough for gas money for the rest of the month without having to chip into the emergency funds. That meant Arthur’s unhealthy reliance on junk food was cut short, and the caffeine junkie had next to no money to buy his energy drinks and coffee. A well paying job meant paradise for him.

Lewis leaned back, smiling to himself, “I could actually cook you guys a decent meal with that. I’m assuming half would go into the emergency fund?”

Vivi nodded, “Yep. Better safe than sorry.”

“Well then, count me in.”

The girl smiled, “You know I’m all for it. This mystery is too enticing.”

Both looked up at Arthur, eyes pleading into the back of his fiery hair. He kept his head focused straight on the road, weighing the options carefully as his hands rocked gently back and forth. How could he chose between life and doritos? To Arthur, the world was too cruel.

“I better get a junk food stash the size of this van.”

Vivi nearly jumped up in joy, “Alright! It’ll be good to see home again. I miss all my old hangouts, and we absolutely have to go to the Pizza Palace for our Friday dinner, Arty. It’s been way too long!”

Lewis looked somewhat sad, “I wonder how my family will react. They nearly disowned me when I left.”

“Oh, suck it up, buttercup. My uncle Lance is going to kill me if I even show my face around there. He’s all about being ‘professional’ and I skipped my two week notice,” Arthur tenderly massaged the side of his neck, “when I wore jeans to work, he nearly strangled me. I worked at a mechanics shop for fuck’s sake, what was I supposed to wear?”

Vivi giggled a little bit, “We’ll hunt down the culprits, grab some pizza, and be out of there before he can even think of you, Arthur. Are we headed the right way?”

Arthur lifted a hand and gestured back to the two with a mix of disgust and duty, “You know it. Unwanted past, here I come.” He groaned dramatically.

 

 

The night may be characterized by its darkness, but just as the morning sky can be many hues of light, the evening can be a thousand different shades of nothing. It was in the darkest of those shades, when the sky is both cloudy and starless, that the Mystery Skulls arrived at Shrocker Family Farms-a Halloween both deadly and terrifying.

Lewis stood outside of the maze, Vivi standing near his side, Mystery at his feet, and Arthur clinging to his arm with enough force to prevent blood circulation.  
Everytime the ginger joined them on a hunt, he naturally hid behind his large and intimidating bodyguard despite the fact that, with a gun, Vivi was possibly the safest. Checking all his bases, Arthur swung his flashlight around wildly, jumping at every simple noise he heard.

“Alright, the equipment is set up. Everyone have their gun handy?” Vivi asked, checking to make sure both of hers were safely concealed. Lewis gestured at his, but Arthur was still too terrified to really answer back. Vivi shrugged it off, knowing he’d probably be too frozen by fear and shock to use it anyway; she’d just have to keep a close eye on him. It was time to venture into possibly the most dangerous hunt they had taken yet, and none of them felt truly ready.

Lewis took a few steps into the maze, watching the stalks closely as the wind blew them back and forth. In the distance, he could hear the screams and laughter from the rival haunted house, part of him wishing they’d all stop so he could truly and utterly focus. Through the study of his abuela’s notes, he had narrowed down their culprit to three things; a month long demon-summoning, haunted burial ground, or offended and cannibalistic fae-people. When brought up to Arthur, none of them had seemed that wonderful.

Lewis glanced at Vivi, her usually bright eyes now screwed up in concentration as she studied the scene. He hadn’t told her yet-would this be the perfect time, surrounded by possibly death and/or terrible injury? It could be his last chance-unless, of course, they enter the afterlife together.

That was kind of sweet, but not something he wanted to do today.

Vivi tapped him on the shoulder, gesturing towards the choices they had in front of them: straight ahead, left, or right. He’d imagine, as they wanted to find the center, that straight would be the way to go in the end. Despite this, Vivi gestured to the right, and the whole gang followed. He loved how she did that.

Mystery was busy sniffing the ground viciously, and as they turned the corner, he rushed ahead, catching a whiff of something important enough to leave the group behind. As the gang weaved after him and in between the stalks, they nearly lost each other, but Vivi grabbed the two and pulled them along as she always did in the end. The strip of red from the dog’s head reflected the light of Arthur’s flashlight, and with that little beacon, they headed deeper and deeper into the maze.

Lewis glanced behind him, watching as the path they had come from was quickly enveloped by greedy corn stalks. The mud beneath their feet splashed up with every step, and as Mystery gained speed, so did they. He could feel a splash of fear grip his heart in a chokehold, but with every ounce of terror there was a gallon of adventure, and nothing was more exciting to him than the unknown.

He heard a distant chanting up ahead as Mystery slowed down a tad, growling underneath his breath and looking up at his owner’s through his golden glasses. Arthur tightened his grip on both Vivi and Lewis, whispering and mumbling to himself as Vivi stole his flashlight and turned it off in what was to the ginger an act of betrayal, to Lewis an act that could save their lives. The corn was too thick to pass through now-they’d need to cut it down-but they could still peer into the heart of the corn maze if they pulled at the stalks hard enough.

“-and, with this sacrifice, our father shall rise again from the blood of the innocent. Awaken, unsightly virgin, and from your life let us be forgiven for the sins we may commit so that we may gaze upon the face of our ruler.” A female voice cried out, her crowd rising in response with admiration and eagerness.

“Awaken, virgin.”

Lewis closed his eyes. Looks like demon-summoning had been correct after all.

He caught a glimpse of a teenage boy bound in the middle of the clearing, shaggy brunette hair covering his eyes and a gushing wound still bleeding on his temple.

At the words of the woman, his eyes opened slowly, and Lewis remembered him from high school: this was Eric Shrocker, the son of their client. He had been a freshmen when Lewis was a senior, so he would’ve been a sophomore now.

“H-hey, what’s g-g-going on?” The boy, cursed with a stutter, trembled. It had never been that noticeable, but being surrounded by a demon cult never really helps those sort of things.

The sound of metal being pulled from a sheath of some sort rang throughout, and the boy began to struggle, “No, p-p-p-please don’t...don’t…”

Two young woman, each dressed in an old, brown cloak, leaned down to pick up the boy by the shoulders. One dipped down to whisper in his ear, “Cat got your tongue? How quaint.” with a tone so sickly patronizing, it made Lewis flinch.

Something in this insult got to Vivi a little more than it had him. Lewis glanced over at her, finding his friend with shotgun in hand, aimed at the legs of the girl who had spoken so rudely. He could see from her clenched jaw that her teeth must have been pressed forcefully together, and with that, he knew she meant business.

Lewis adjusted his position a little to see further into the clearing, gesturing for Vivi to wait as the boy was thrown down dramatically onto his knees in front of what he assumed was the leader of the cult. The girl whom Vivi was aiming at pulled the shaggy head of Eric back, exposing a pale neck.

“Oh, unsightly virgin, your miserable life shall benefit the greater cause. No drop of blood shall be lost in vain, and you, along with those sacrificed prior, shall be seen as saints as a new world dawns,” the cult leader lifted a finely gilded dagger, poised to strike, “Now, feed our father! With your death, bring us-”

A gunshot blasted through the night, and the clearing grew silent as the cult leader fell to her knees with her hands clutched to her side, crying out in pain as she dropped the knife into the mud. Without hesitation, Vivi rushed into the middle of the clearing and began cutting the ropes binding the boy in the middle, partaking in a plan she had formulated on the spot. The cult, along with Lewis and Arthur, was still dazed and confused.

Mystery burst out after her, his bunny tail sticking straight up and teeth bared as menacingly as a medium-sized dog could muster. As his thoughts caught up with him, Lewis followed after, and with him he dragged a whimpering Arthur. Though he loved the guy, he sometimes wondered why they brought the scaredy-cat along.

Vivi whispered quietly into Eric’s ear, and the boy dashed away into the corn without looking back. She turned around, gun raised, to face the rest of the cult, “Don’t move, or I’ll shoot her again! And this time,” Vivi glanced down at the leader, her hands still clenching her side, “it’ll be fatal.”

Each of the cult members raised their hands slowly to show defeat, faces hidden beneath the shadow of their hoods. Scattered throughout the clearing, incense was burned and black candles lit, and upon the ground was an intricate sigil dug deep into the mud-or was it mud? Lewis took a quick whiff of the air, and couldn’t tell if the heavily metallic stench came from the bleeding cult leader or the possibly blood-stained ground beneath them.

He was brought back to reality by another gunshot and a firm hand on his arm that wasn’t Arthur’s. In fact, Arthur was pulled away from him with the sacrificial knife held close to his neck, eyes wide and voice raised in a bloodcurdling scream. At the foot of the cult, the leader was sprawled out in the silence that was death, and Vivi was thrown down next to her.

“You think we care for the life of one? Our vows are not to her, but to the father beneath,” One cult member breathed, the one holding Arthur tightly, “You bring us another virgin to sacrifice. Still our father shall rise!”

Vivi’s eyes grew wide, and she began scrambling in the mud to try and stand up while Arthur grew limp against the woman holding him, “Oh, dick move! In front of my friends, really?” he struggled a little, but gave up again, “How do you know I’m a virgin? For all you know I could be a total stud.”

Lewis reached down for his gun, but it was taken quickly from his hands and pointed straight to his head, “Nice try, sugar-plum. Thanks for the new toy.” taunted the same voice that had recently talked down the stuttering boy and thrown Vivi into a murderous rampage.

It was a pretty grim sight for the Mystery Skulls: Arthur was trapped by a knife, Lewis had a gun to his head, and Vivi couldn’t move for fear that her friends would be slaughtered. The members turned to the one holding Arthur, chanting slowly and silently in sync. A thin line of blood had formed beneath the knife, and the ginger began to whine as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

“Arthur, no!” Vivi shouted out, bursting up and attempting to run towards him, but she was paused by the cocking of the hammer to Lewis’ head. That was enough to stop her in her tracks.

But there was someone they had forgotten about.

Snarling rabidly, Mystery jumped into the air to grab the arm of Arthur’s captor in his jaws, shaking viciously back and forth as he pierced her skin with sharp fangs. Despite his size, the dog could bite, and as he fell back to the ground the girl had a large chunk taken out of her shoulder. The dog spit it out, readying himself for another attack.

Lewis used this opportunity to duck beneath the gun pointed at his head and bowl his own keeper into the ground. He debated whether or not he should give the girl a few punches, but hated the thought of himself acting violently, and left her without his gun to run over and cradle the still stunned Arthur. Terrified ginger in his arms and brave bluenette with his hand, the team began blindly running through the corn stalks.

Mystery took the lead again, weaving in and out of the maze to lead them to the beginning once more. Arthur was convulsing violently, his eyes still rolled into the back of his head as the team hurried, the leaves of the corn slashing into their skin and blinding their eyes. Vivi was shouting back to Lewis, but the rustling of the wind in his ears was too much to hear past.

“Hang in there, Art. I’m getting you out of here.”

Just as his legs began to fail him, Lewis fell rather than ran out of the maze. With Arthur out of the reaches of the cult, a scream was once more raised into the night before everything was silence. The only thing that ascended into the starless sky was the heavy breathing of the Mystery Skulls, and the light groaning of Arthur as his convulsions came to an end. His mouth was foaming slightly, but his eyes were now visible and clearly distressed.

“Vivi, I think he’s having a seizure.”

Vivi had also collapsed on the ground, throat dry and breathing laborious. Despite this, she nearly sprinted over to Lewis when Arthur’s health was in danger, and began taking his pulse and checking other vitals.

The fear drained from her eyes as she gave a sigh of relief, pulling her hands from Arthur’s neck to caress his cheeks and face tenderly, “He’s over it now. Demon-related seizures don’t last long, especially if the connection is cut,” She stood up slowly, her legs wobbling slightly as she helped Lewis up, “but he’ll be really sore, and also tired if I read correctly. The ambulance should be here by now-let’s get him to the Shrocker’s house.”

They began walking slowly, Mystery panting behind them, “An ambulance? I knew you were psychic, Vi, but you never told me you could summon emergency vehicles at will.”

She looked up at Lewis tiredly, “I told that boy to call them from the Shrocker’s house, I’m sure he’s gotten there by now. See, there they are.”

Sure enough, red and white lights were flashing vividly up ahead of them with the promise of at least a good blanket or two and the proper treatment Arthur. Lewis looked down at his friend, lying limply in his arms as his chest rose and fell shallowly in sleep. Why had they brought him along in the first place? He never wanted to come investigate, and he always ended up the victim of some horrible fate.

Vivi must’ve been thinking of Arthur, too, as she grabbed his limp hand in hers. It had fallen from Lewis’ protection and into hers without ever having to be alone. The three of them were terribly scratched, bruised, and overall battered, but with another near-death experience out of the way, Lewis felt extremely close to the ragtag group he now called family.

Did he want to ruin that?

Her hand still clenched Arthur’s, her eyes staring straight ahead. She caught his glance out of the corner of her eye, turning to look up at Lewis with a reassuring smile, complete with closed eyes and raised cheeks. Should he risk that smile for the chance to call her, his?

Lewis smiled back as sincerely as he could. He wasn’t willing to change what he had right now, even if it meant giving up the possibility of Vivi’s love. It didn’t matter how long he might have to wait, when the moment came, he’d tell her. Until then, he was perfectly okay with his little paradise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I'm so happy that people are reading my stuff! It's always been a dream of mine. Thanks a bunch for making it so far, it means a ton to me!!  
> The next chapter will be up tomorrow-see ya then!


	7. What She Needed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Within a room in the ER, two heartfelt family reunions leave Vivi with a smile on her face and a little extra love in her heart. It's here, despite not having one of her own, that Vivi truly feels like the good she's done is worth it, and that what she does is for good.  
> But does she have to be alone? A night in the Garza household says otherwise, leaving Vivi's big heart with a fullness she never knew she needed.

The doctor pulled away from Arthur, a comforting smile upon her dark cheeks as she wrote down her diagnosis upon a yellow pad of paper, “Your friend will be fine now. All of his vitals are in check, and he isn’t showing any signs of another attack coming on,” she looked down at the yellow notepad, rolling her chair against the wall as she checked a few things off, “You said you’re usually dependent upon caffeine, but haven’t had it in quite some time, right?”

Arthur nodded, still somewhat dazed and disoriented but coming back fast.

“Then I’d call that the cause. Otherwise, your blood sugar is healthy and there’s no sign of a fever. You and your friends are free to go whenever.”

The team had hopped aboard an ambulance after reaching the Shrocker house, travelling alongside Eric and his very worried father for what seemed like an eternity of thank yous and gracious actions. Arthur had fallen asleep immediately, and though the paramedics were adamant about waking him up to make sure he was alright, check which side of his brain was down, etcetera, Lewis wouldn’t let them. Both him and Vivi knew, from the wisdom of his deceased grandma, that possession seizures weren’t fatal unless complete.

Lewis looked up at Vivi from his chair in the hospital room, much too big for the tiny piece of plastic and padding he was sitting upon, “Don’t we need to pay? I’m pretty sure none of us have insurance.”

“We’re good. Arthur’s still on his Mom’s plan, the rest was easy enough to pay out of pocket,” Vivi waved her wallet at Lewis, “and thus the emergency fund comes in handy. Who would’ve thought my senseless babbling and saving might actually be for something useful?”

“Alright, can we just get out of here then? I’m seriously sore, I feel like I just sprint twenty miles. Plus, I don’t want my family to know I-”

Arthur was too late.

“Arthur Eugene Blecher!” a shrill voice cried out. There was a vigorous pounding down the hall, high heels clacking upon the hard floors as nurses jumped out of the way and wandering patients looked on in stunned silence. In a whirlwind of cheap perfume and pencil skirts, Arthur’s dear Mom had entered the hospital room with the presence of an angry principal. The doctor, sensing impending doom, quietly slipped out unnoticed.

His mother was just as thin as her son, eyes brutal and calculating. Everything about her screamed dominance, that she was the alpha female in any situation, and though her physique may have resembled her son’s her personality was a far cry from it. Here was the stereotypical PTA mom who’s overbearing and restrictive nature had led to a very awkward, very terrified child, but whose love was still present as she gripped Arthur in her arms tightly.

“Don’t you dare do that again. Vivi,” She looked up at the girl who had been like a daughter to this single mom, the stone eyes of the beast brimming with fearful tears, “thank you so much for bringing my boy out of danger, just as you always do. He can never keep himself safe.”

“Come on, she was the one who made me go in the maze anyway!”

Vivi smiled at the two, always finding the relationship between them comical at the least and charming in a few ways, “Thank you, Ms.Blecher, but it was Lewis who carried him out.”

Lewis scratched the back of his neck nervously with a very uncomfortable smile directed at the mother of his best friend. Ms. Blecher had hated the football player-esque boy on sight, telling Arthur that he’d only get him into violence and drugs and gangs. When Lewis reflected upon it, part of that was correct, he guessed.

Ms.Blecher seemed to forget about all of this. Dragging her boy choking from the edge of the hospital bed, she gripped both Vivi and Lewis in a suffocating show of affection, her voice edged with sobs, “I could never have asked for better guardian angels for my boy. Bless you two children.”

They were stuck in that awkward yet obligatory silence for quite some time before Lewis finally pulled away, his grin simple and sweet before fading into a frown of fear and a gasp of surprise. When he left the arms of Ms.Blecher, he was met by a sight even more tear-jerking, something he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to see-or did he? How would they react?

Standing in the doorway, a very short and chubby hispanic woman gripped her two children next to her while a very tall, very buff husband shadowed her protectively with a toddler gripping his powerful hands. His wife couldn’t have been taller than five-three while her husband was nearly seven feet tall, making the height difference a shocking but somewhat comical observation. Still, it nearly brought Lewis to tears.

“Oh mijo, cariño, my sun and stars and bright sky,” the woman walked into the room slowly, lifting her hands to Lewis’ face as though he were a phantom, “Why do you scare your mother so?”

“I...how did you know I was here, Mami?”

If Lewis had chosen to look at Vivi, he would’ve seen her smirking brightly at the newly reunited family. After telling her team that she was going to use the restroom, she found the Garza family’s number in a phone book next to a payphone, calling them in the dead of night to tell them that their son was at the hospital and that, if they wished to see him, they better hurry fast. She had to admit, the way she had spoken over the phone probably made it seem like their son was dying, but what mattered was that the family he cared so much for was there to see him before he fled.

His mother didn’t take her eyes off of her son, tears welling up in them as Lewis’ father came up behind her, his hand placed comfortingly upon her back as he reached forward to grip his son on the shoulder. Behind him came the ragtag group of younger children, ranging from two years old to eight. The five year old, a stunningly beautiful child with shimmering black hair to her knees and almond eyes larger and brighter than the sun, came up to grip her brother by the hand with the biggest smile in the world.

“Lewey, you came back.”

At this point, Lewis was seriously overwhelmed. All the fear he had that he wouldn’t be accepted by his family began to melt away from the mountains of his mind, and he kneeled down next to the sister he had cradled in his arms as a babe, looking into her eyes as he grabbed her tiny hands in his gargantuan ones. Her smile widened.

“I never left, mi hermana pequeña.”

“Mami told us you’re a hero, you were on TV! You saved someone like Superman!” The eldest of the three, the eight year old boy, cried out in excitement and anticipation. From the footie pajamas he was sporting, complete with red cape upon blue shirt with large ‘S’ symbol, it wasn’t too far to infer that the little boy might have a slight obsession with the one he compared his brother to.

Lewis went to deny that claim, but his parents were already enveloping him in their arms and reassuring him that they were so, so proud of him. This sort of tear-jerking family reunion was not exactly Arthur’s favorite environment. Vivi glanced at her suffering friend, still being covered in his mother’s compassion and kisses.

“It’s technically Friday. How about Arty and I grab a really early breakfast and let you catch up with your family, Lew?” She grinned down at the curious eyes of Lewis’ younger family, looking back up to see Arthur’s relieved expression as he was able to push his Mom away just a little bit.

“Yeah, I’m sure Denny’s has got to be open or something,” he brushed off his now wrinkled vest, tutting at how it folded upon itself after that excursion, “and I’m really hungry, Mom. I’m sure I’d get healthier a lot quicker if I went and had breakfast at two in the morning with your favorite daughter, Vivi. Doesn’t that sound just wonderful?”

Ms.Blecher was only halfway buying it, glowering at both Vivi and Arthur with suspicion, “I’m pretty sure you need to be sleeping right now, little man. If anything, some home cooking will do you a lot better, along with your old bed and a nice pair of PJs. I don’t want to know how many nights you’ve slept in those clothes.”

At the complaints of the mother, Vivi gestured with her eyes towards the still embracing family behind her, hoping that Ms.Blecher would understand that they needed a little alone time. The mother looked back at them, then again at Vivi, finally sighing in defeat.

“Okay, but so long as you promise you’ll get him something at least a little healthy to eat. None of that greasy death food he used to bring into my house.”

Vivi nodded as she grabbed Arthur and glanced back into the hospital, beaming with the brightness of the stars in the sky. From above the shoulder of his father, Lewis smiled at her with thankful eyes that were bordered with tears. She wondered if, maybe, the reason he had been so jittery and confusing over the past few days had to do with this, the missing of his family? She wouldn’t know: she didn’t have one, and the one she had was with her now.

What mattered was that they were with him now, and that Vivi had helped them find each other again. She knew, deep down, that what she had done was a very, very good thing.

 

 

“Mrs.Garza, this really isn’t necessary.” Vivi smiled, eyes wide and greedy as the table in front of her was set with a feast, “offering me room to stay was kind enough, but inviting me to your table is just too much.”

The stout woman waved off the politeness of the girl at her table, placing plates and folding napkins expertly and efficiently from years working at a restaurant, “Nonsense, you are our guest. Lewis talked so much about you, I must come to know this beautiful woman he has been travelling with.”

Vivi grew red at such words, “Thank you, Mrs.”

“Do not call me Mrs! In our house, you call me Mirabel. Excuse the silence of my husband, he does not know much English. We only moved here when Lewis was a young boy, and while I had to learn in order to man the shop, he only needed to know how to cook,” She smiled, placing her hand on her husband’s shoulder for him to grab tenderly with a mustached smile, “He very much likes you. He sees that you make our boy happy.”

“You said Lewis was a boy when you moved here; does that mean he was born outside of the U.S.?” Vivi tried to divert the conversation, beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable at the praise she was receiving.

“I was born in Nuevo León, in Mexico. The city of Guadalupe, right?” Lewis butted in, entering the dining room from the kitchen with a steaming plate of chicken and vegetables balanced on the palm of his hand. His two eldest siblings, a fifteen year old boy and a girl of fourteen, came rushing in behind him with the rest of the food in their own.

“Yes, Guadalupe. Our relatives made a new life for themselves here with a business they began, making beautiful traditional jewelry while still selling it fairly. My husband was always a wonderful cook, with so many family recipes and secrets-he had a gift, but he was never able to reap it in Nuevo León,” The family began to sit down, “In America, we were able to live comfortably while still living joyfully. It is all we asked for.”

At this time, the family bowed their heads respectfully in what Vivi assumed was prayer. The father, so silently that Vivi had to strain to hear, began to recite what she could only assume was a Spanish form of grace, eyes closed and hands folded as his words swirled around the food. As he finished, quickly yet with slight hesitation, the large family burst once again into life as though nothing had paused them in the first place.

“So why weren’t you there to greet me so early this morning, Amado and Marisol? I felt so unloved without you two there…” Lewis teased, drawing a fake tear down his cheek and pouting dramatically.

“The school hosted an overnight event for the choir, which they are both a part of, of course. I didn’t have time to pick them up!” His mother replied, ruffling the hair of the older boy. He tried to act cool about it, but was smiling just as wide as any of the family.

“What about the other boy, the one that Lewis saved? Is he not coming to see us, Mami?” the girl, Marisol, asked. Maribel glanced at Vivi for an answer.

“He was feeling really sore after what happened last night, he went to sleep at about four this morning and hasn’t been awake since. All Arthur needs is a little rest at home is all, I’m sure he’ll come around to say hello.” She lied. In all actuality, Arthur was probably playing video games in the Mystery Skulls van outside his mother’s house, but this sort of social interaction wasn’t exactly his forte.

Vivi began piling food onto her plate, choosing carefully and somewhat less than she would usually eat, but as the family continued to stack their towers of food higher and higher she felt a little more comfortable. Lewis pointed out the dishes that were really spicy, the ones that weren’t very, and so on-she could take a little bit of heat, but in no way was Vivi as tolerant of it as his family was.

“I made almost all of this myself, you know. In a way, this is the first meal I’ve cooked for you, V.” Lewis grinned thoughtfully, edging a glass of milk towards her with the knowledge that she’d need it eventually, “It didn’t really cross my mind when I was cooking it, but here we are.”

He always talked of his family cooking, taking pride in his own as well. With a knife and a frying pan, Lewis was a god, and had planned on taking over his father’s place or at least helping in the kitchen when he got a little older, maybe as a side job for college. Everytime he watched Vivi and Arthur eat junk food, he gagged, complaining about the lack of a stove and proper kitchenware with the promise that, sooner or later, he would cook a magnificent meal for his team.

And here it was, alongside a chattering family and a couple of smiles too big for this world.

Halfway through her first bite, Vivi was gulping down the milk with tears in her eyes while the family laughed cheerily at her first bite of authentic Mexican food, but something about their playfulness made it less of an insult and more of a tease. She felt more than a little ready to tough out the rest of the meal, knowing that the surrounding family-and especially Lewis-had cooked just for her. It was the spiciest food she had ever tasted, but also some of the most delicious, and the people around her were more than social: they were compassionate, loving, and loyal.

Vivi had never had a family like this.

Until she met Arthur, dinners had been a lonely thing. Even when she adopted him into her life, they only ate together once a week with the exception of a few meals with his mother or uncle Lance. This family, within this house of welcomes and brightness, was much different from anything she had ever experienced before: whereas the other social dinners had been thick with polite conversation and mostly silent eating, the Garza’s acted as though Vivi were just another child of theirs, another mouth for feeding and talking and snoring. Under this roof, Vivi had more than just her friends and a dog-she was exposed to a loving family.

She sometimes caught Lewis’ father staring at her critically, but he always smiled when she noticed his gaze. Even if he didn’t talk much and, when he did, she couldn’t understand it very well, she wasn’t scared of the large man-just like Lewis, he looked less to her like a bodybuilder and more like a teddy bear.

When dinner ended and the table began to disperse into separate tasks, Vivi watched Lewis’ father pull him aside with a very serious gleam in his eyes. Both hands gripping the shoulders of his boy, he relayed a message that she couldn’t hear from across the room, gave her a wink, and left Lewis blushing very, very brightly.

Vivi joined her teddy bear with the dishes, leaning in close to him in an attempt to get him to spill the beans, “What was that about? You look like a tomato.”

Lewis stopped scrubbing his plate as she asked, trying not to look at the girl as she leaned over to get a better look at his face, “He, uh, misunderstood our relationship is all. Nothing to think about, you don’t have to worry, nope.” He was trying to sound calm, but his tense muscles and overall scared nature denoted something else.

She bit her lip to stop any laughter in its tracks, “What kind of misunderstanding, Lulu?”

He resumed scrubbing his plate vigorously and without mercy, “Oh, you know, he just gave me...gave me permission to marry you is all, no big deal. Just a little bit of a misunderstanding between us, no biggie.”

Vivi couldn’t hold back her laughter now, “I think I’ve fallen in love with your family, Lewis. Can I marry them instead?”

That reassured him a little bit, and his scrubbing went back to normal speed, “Really? I was afraid that they were coming off a little strong. We’re always so noisy, it never really occurred to them that they might be a bit overwhelming. I was so scared that you’d think they were, I don’t know, weird?” he was clearly touched by her words of acceptance towards his family, “I don’t know, it just means a lot to me. And they really like you, as you can probably infer by my father’s attempt at arranging a marriage between us.”

Just then, a hand reached up to tug at the skirt of Vivi, a pair of very worried almond eyes looking up with determination but a little bit of fear as they asked a question of life and death, “Vivi, could you read me a book?” the second youngest Garza mumbled, her hand covering her mouth as she searched for an answer. Lewis squatted down to look at her square in the eyes.

“Vivi’s probably very tired, Perla. I’ll come down to read to you if you can wait just a little bit longer.”

“No, it’s fine,” Vivi grinned, heart melting at the adorableness of the shy girl in front of them, “I’d love to read to you, Perla.”

That beautiful smile poked out from the cheeks of the tiny girl, and she offered a hand for Vivi to take lightly in hers. They both looked back at Lewis’ face, brimming with a happiness neither truly understood, before running through the hallways and into the room of the young girl, her older sister, and the spare bed for Vivi. After curling up in a thick comforter and reading Where The Wild Things Are at least ten times, the two fell asleep on top of each other, leaving the spare bed empty and Vivi’s heart filled with a form of love she had never known she needed.

For Lewis, falling asleep in his old bed with the oldest of his three brothers, the love Vivi showed his family and what she received in return was not only a relief, but a call to action. So quickly, she had become another part of the family, and be it his parent’s eagerness for the boy to have a friend or their overall accepting nature Vivi was no longer a stranger to the house but an addition to. 

Before they came back to their hometown, Lewis swore that he would ask Vivi to be his, to truly be a part of his family. As his father had told him, struggling to relay his words in broken English with an accent so thick yet sincere that Lewis just had to listen, Vivi ‘was a keeper’, and he needed to keep her close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, my chapters have been getting really long really fast. I'll try my best to keep them a little shorter, but there was just too much stuff to put in here! I plan on venturing a little bit from the cutesy stuff in order to further the plot, but I don't know when I'll be able to post again with Christmas just around the corner!  
> Stay tuned, my lovelies.  
> It's about to go down.


	8. Glass Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vivi has a nightmare that leaves her shaken and terrified, and Arthur ponders whether or not he's really necessary for the so-called "team".  
> Why not test his abilities in a deadly cave of death? Sounds good.

Vivi burst forward from her bed, frantically grabbing her bedsheets in a flurry of gasping breaths as she cried out Arthur’s name. Her eyes flicked about the room in heightened awareness in search for danger, but as she found none, she released her grip and relaxed her posture as best as she could. The night around her was silent, as though a bed sheet had been thrown over the sleeping children of the motel, and nothing stirred save her and the dog. She sighed tiredly: for the first time in a long time, the girl had dreamed, and for the first time ever, she had witnessed before her the most realistic nightmare, the most vivid horror that her eyes could ever handle. Even as Mystery nosed his way into her arms, she was shaking violently. 

He would never, would he?

She swung her feet over the side of the bed, dressed only in a tank top and boxers, shivering as she did so. It wasn’t that cold outside, but right now she was freezing. Everything she had seen...how could it feel so real? Dangling over the edge, feeling metal against her neck, the hopelessness of suffocation and death; that couldn’t have just been a terror of the night.

Especially when it was Arthur.

She looked around for something to keep her warm. All of the clothes and toiletries of the Mystery Skulls was kept in her mostly empty room, filling a small corner with duffel bags. A year after the fondly dubbed Corn Maze Massacres, the Mystery Skulls had gotten quite a bit of business-even now, they had three jobs queued up-and so they were able to rent a bit of a nicer, more commendable motel. Vivi’s first priority had been a hot shower and a good heater, but Lewis and Arthur had agreed on checking safety over anything: if they were going to continue letting Vivi sleep alone, she would need that extra bit of protection so that they could all sleep easier, if a bit cold.

Right now, she really wished they didn’t let her sleep alone.

She began rummaging through the piles of clothes, hers and Arthur’s and Lewis’ all mixed together spanning three bags. All she needed was something warm, her sweater would be nice, maybe a long sleeve shirt...it didn’t matter, so long as she felt coddled.

The girl rose with her prize, a gigantic, pinkish-purple sweater made of what felt like alpaca wool. As she rubbed the fabric between her fingers, she could feel the warmness emanating off of it like a campfire. This would work.

When she pulled it on, the scent of spices and cooking hit her nose, mingled slightly with a touch of cologne. In the darkness, she couldn’t see the color, but when she lifted it to cover her head it was more than clear that it wasn’t hers at all. Reaching clear down to her knees and making the chubby girl look like a toddler, it was plain to see that this was Lewis’ sweater.

For some reason, that made her want to wear it even more.

Warmer now, Vivi went to go lay back down in her bed, but something stopped her before she could reach it. The sheets looked hostile and unwelcoming while the bed itself was made of stone, the comforter less of a comfort and more of an insult. She couldn’t go back to that, and even is she did, sleep wouldn’t claim her while her heart was racing like it was.

Vivi paced the room angrily, trying to warm her freezing feet as they padded quickly back and forth with uncertain purpose. They had a job tomorrow, and she needed to be alert for a possible werewolf hunt! At this rate, she’d fall asleep while speaking to the client. Frustrated, she lifted the sweater to cover her face with a silent scream, and was once again met by the warmth and comfort of Lewis.

That gave her an idea.

She grabbed the key to both her and the boys’ room, opening the door with Mystery hot on her heels. Uncertainly, she unlocked the door to their sleeping quarters, poking her head in cautiously while the dog rushed in, hurrying over the the foot of Arthur’s bed. It was darker than her room without the streetlights outside the window, but she felt ten times calmer within.

The sounds of sleeping whirled around the room like a spell, noises that she had memorized as a song of comfort and company. Both snored softly from their separate beds, stuck in a rest like death. She had to wonder, as she always did, what dreams her boys had? It didn’t matter, but to her, she felt she must know what gave them such a peaceful and happy expression, such a wonderfully relaxed night. Breathing shallow, she approached Lewis carefully.

Now she had grown uncertain. Part of her didn’t want to wake him up from such a beautiful silence, but she needed him right now. A tuft of his purple hair, un-gelled and straying from his pompadour, covered his nose and quivered lightly as he snored a soft lullaby. Her heart warmed, and though she felt it rude, Vivi lifted her hand to his shoulder and gave him the lightest of shakes.

Those gorgeous pink eyes fluttered open with the tenderness of butterflies, kissing his cheeks with gentle wings. They looked up at her with at first unrivaled joy and affection, but soon were replaced with fear and protective curiosity. Lewis sat up, gripping Vivi’s shoulders and looking behind her and out the motel room door.

“Is everything okay, V? Did someone try to come into your room?” He asked, looking just about ready to beat up the first thing that came into his line of sight, “I hate putting you alone in motel rooms, but I’m glad we chose this one over the cheaper rooms down the street; they may have gotten in otherwise. Are you okay?”

She looked down shyly at her feet, grabbing her arm in one hand as she replied back, still shaking from her vision, “I had a nightmare. Could you...could you hold me until I fall asleep?” she whispered, her voice so quiet it could’ve been a breath of wind through the sleeping town.

Lewis’ eyes softened at that simple question, looking at her with warm eyes and releasing her shoulders a little bit. He stood up, and she saw in the younger boy the big brother he had spent his whole life being. How many times had Lewis been woken up to scare away the monsters in his baby sisters’ closet, or to be the night light and blanket they needed when it grew dark?

They left Mystery with Arthur, entering Vivi’s room and locking both locks just to be safe. She pulled down the sweater to cover her boxers completely, realizing she was still wearing his clothes. As Lewis got into the queen size bed and opened the sheets for her to join him, she stopped to apologize.

“I...is it okay if I wear this, just for tonight?”

He glanced at the sweater, smiling tiredly as he recognized it to be his own, “Of course.”

By the looks of it, Lewis was still too asleep to fully understand what was happening. He wrapped her in his arms, blanket and all, falling back to sleep almost immediately with his lips pressed gently to her forehead in an unfinished kiss. She wondered if he even knew it was Vivi, or if he had been transported back home to Perla and Marisol. As she pressed her head into his chest and pulled her arms and legs up to curl into a ball, Vivi didn’t really care: the bed was warmer, the night brighter, and she was feeling tired again.

Something hit her forehead from around the neck of her giant teddy bear, suspended in front of her eyes with the glistening of glass and the outline of a heart. She reached forward, grabbing the locket in both hands as though it were paper thin. With a light click, it sprung open to reveal a poorly cut photo resting between the two halves. Her smile spread from cheek to cheek, wide and open with her hands grasping Lewis’. His eye was closed in a wink, but the other was open to stare at her adoringly with his fingers cupping her face, a picture taken just a few days ago at a photobooth in a mall.

Never had Vivi smiled as big as she smiled just then, knowing that he held her so close to him, just above his exposed heart within the glass locket. She had expected his family to be smiling from within, but what met her eyes felt so very special knowing that, out of all his loved ones, Lewis chose her. 

She could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest, a rabbit spooked by the prospect of such closeness. Her thoughts sprinted back to Arthur, asleep and alone in his own bed, and she wondered why she hadn’t gone to her best friend of eleven years for comfort. As the past few months had unfolded, Arthur had expressed that he was feeling left out in many different ways, and her mind stretched to an accusation he had shouted at her in a flurry of frustration and lost hope.

“He’s replacing me. You’re letting Lewis replace me.”

Vivi smiled now, looking up at the lightly sleeping Lewis. Arthur had been wrong, Lewis could never in a million years replace him. To her, Lewis had filled a spot in her heart that Arthur had never even been a candidate for, a place she felt he would never see. While Arthur was her best friend for so many years and someone she held and revered as a savior of sorts, Lewis was the keeper of the heart she had so often sought to give away.

She closed her eyes for good, beaming like a child. If she could stay like this for the rest of her life, Vivi would’ve given up anything. Cradled in the arms of the one who held her heart so gently, she wished and prayed and hoped that someday she might be able to hold his between her open palms.

 

 

Arthur had been a lonely child. This we know as all the Mystery skulls had been lonely, but Arthur in particular had no one before Vivi. If you could accumulate negative friends, he could have made an army of those he lacked. Instead, they made an army against him.

He had been bullied, beat up, teased, made fun of. Every black eye and every bruise was more than just an imperfection upon the skin, it was a dent in his fragile soul, a nick in the glass of his true self. Vivi had kissed his imperfections into beautiful art, brought out his strong points and tried to crush those haunting weaknesses that kept him awake every night, but there was something she could never quite shake off of him, the most important part of his soul that everyone but her could see.

Arthur was still lonely.

Two people had penetrated the ice that surrounded him, one of the most obnoxious pink and the other of a brilliant blue, but he could feel himself falling away from them with every passing day. Lewis had told him that he loved Vivi, and after eleven years with her, even the socially inept Arthur could tell that she felt the same. As they grew closer together, the only two he truly loved left him behind to watch in pain. What a horrible way to find that you are not needed.

It began with the increasing amount of jobs they received. Arthur only partook in half of them, staying behind to watch the car and play video games when they didn’t need him.  
At first, this was fine with him, but every time the two came back with stories to tell and hauntings to discuss, Arthur was forced to keep his mouth shut and his eyes on the road. He knew nothing of the supernatural, and even less of how to keep friends.

When they weren’t talking of jobs, it was even worse. Lewis had recently gotten his hands on a box filled with books that his grandma left for him, all annotated and filled with what to him was the most interesting side notes, what was to Arthur the ramblings of a crazy old lady. Each book they read together, each new fact they fell upon, the further Arthur fell behind.

Even at night, Arthur was no longer included in the group while sleeping. When he was younger, he always joked around about how clingy Vivi had become and how weird her snuggling with anything and everything was. At sleepovers, she would fall asleep on the floor of Arthur’s bedroom, always waking up to find herself in his bed. In the van, even, she’d curl up in her blanket only to rise with the two boys-plus dog-wrapped in her arms. At first, such closeness made Arthur uncomfortable, but as she slowly began to leave his side of the blankets untouched, he wished he had never teased her or said anything at all. Maybe then she would’ve called on Arthur to comfort her last night instead of leaving him to wake up alone.

When they left the Saturday after their thrilling werewolf hunt, Lewis drove with Vivi and Mystery in the front with him, assuming Arthur would just fall asleep like he usually did. This time, though, he stayed awake as best he could. There was a hope within him that Vivi, the one he placed all his trust in, would remember that which she had so clearly forgotten.

Lewis peered over at the book in her hands, “Which one is that?”

She didn’t even lift her eyes she was so immersed in the text, pupils flashing quickly back and forth as she wrote notes down in her notepad, “The one filled with curses, rituals, and spells. This one here is about ghost solidification, I thought we might need it some day.”

He looked back at the road, “High-control ghosts have solid forms, though. The only ones we could use that on are low-control, and why would we want them to have a physical form to wreak havoc with?”

Vivi shook her head, smiling wide as she flipped back in her notebook, “Well, you see, we may have been wrong with our assumption of a ghost’s life cycle. In one of your grandma’s books, she explained that instead of beginning as a low-control ghost then gaining control as time goes by, they instead follow an arc, see,” she gestured towards a very detailed graph, “to put it simply, they begin with little to no control, but then they gain a large amount through their first few years. Different ghosts gain different amounts of control over different periods of time, but once they reach their personal limit, they lose it all.”

Lewis exhaled in excitement, “So that’s why some of the older haunts are the craziest?”

She bobbed her head in response, “Same goes for the new ones. They both have the same control over their energy, or lack thereof.”

Arthur pulled out his 3DS, but the battery wasn’t charged and he was out of luck. Had she really forgotten their Friday meal after so many years? Lewis and Vivi were still jabbering on about the same thing they always talked about, and Arthur couldn’t sleep with all this anxiety filling his veins.

He leaned his head on the back of the chair up front, where Mystery was sitting. Vivi had scooted over to the seat closest to Lewis, showing him the pictures and diagrams as the boy’s eyes flicked back and forth between the road and her notes. In most cases, Arthur would scold him for looking away, but he really had no energy whatsoever.

Neither of them needed him now that they had each other. Vivi knew well enough how to take care of the van, and even if right now he hated him, Arthur trusted Lewis to take care of her and prevent the girl from going too far in the name of her supernatural passion. Even Mystery did more for the team than he did! This wasn’t the life Arthur wanted, and in that instant, he knew that he should probably move on.

Uncle Lance had called him yesterday, restating his offer. If Arthur came back home, he would inherit his uncle’s baby, the Kingsmen Mechanics shop. With that shop, he could make more than a comfortable living: the Blecher family had a gift with metal, and were known around the state for good and honest work. Maybe Arthur could settle down with a few projects, make his mother happy, get off the road. Vivi and Lewis wouldn’t even notice he was gone.

He looked away, disheartened by his own thoughts. As he began observing the trees flashing by their window, he could hear in Vivi’s voice the smile she shared with Lewis, watching as Mystery joined along with a grin of his own from the corner of his eye.

How nice, a big happy family of smiling idiots. Arthur felt like he had to puke.

As Lewis looked down at Vivi, the girl saw something outside that caught her attention, “Oh, Lewis, we just have to stop and check that out! Did you see how spooky that cave looked? It was just calling out our names.”

Arthur swung around to look out the opposite window as they flashed by an eerie black cave seeping some sort of green gas, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. It even has a sign with a skull and crossbones, Vivi, that’s never a good sign.”

Lewis nodded, “We have another job to get to, and it looked pretty, I don’t know, deadly?” Arthur could feel Vivi’s frown from the backseat, “We’re here to solve mysteries, not get ourselves killed.”

“Oh, come on, where’s the fun in sticking to the schedule? We got two days to travel two hours, and we’ve faced things a lot scarier than a big cave. Please, Lulu?”

That nickname was his weakness, and Lewis slowed down to pull a very jerky U-turn, “Alright, but the moment it gets too weird, we’re turning right around and running. I don’t want to be caught in a situation I can’t carry Arthur out of.” he teased, glancing back at the ginger as the car came to a stop.

“Oh no. I’m not going in there, I have a worse feeling about this cave than anything ever, and that’s saying something.”

Lewis hopped out of the car, opening the back to let Arthur out as he offered a hand to his best friend, “Come on, Art. I’m sure everything will be just fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, next chapter is either going to be very long or very short, depending on whether I split it in half or not. This being said, it will also take me a bit longer to write, but I'm sure I'll have it up by tomorrow for you guys! Thanks again for reading-you're a bunch of sweethearts and I love you!!


	9. This Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur and Mystery aren't quite sure about this adventure, but with one being a coward and the other a dog, who wants to listen to either? 
> 
> **Warning**  
> Very gore-filled chapter.

“Guys, I can’t do this,” Arthur whimpered, gripping onto Lewis’ shoulder with as much power as a bent daisy as they headed towards the cave, taking the same defensive position he always did before being dragged into trouble, “I mean, skull and crossbones aside, the cave has eyes. Angry eyes. And big, menacing teeth-this could be, like, a giant titan and we’re just walking right into its stomach. I can’t die like this.”

Lewis smiled back at him, attempting reassurance with a toothy grin, “We haven’t died yet, Arthur, and Vivi’s probably right. It’s just a cave when you get right down to it, and the only thing to fear in a cave is darkness,” Lewis lifted up his torch, waving it gently as a beacon to his scared friend, “Most animals are terrified of fire, anyway, so nothing will jump out at us. And if it gets to be too much for me or Vivi, I promise you we’ll be out in a flash.”

When Arthur still wouldn’t budge, Lewis glanced at Vivi for help. She hadn’t yet taken her eyes off of the cave, wonder struck by everything surrounding her: the curling thorns, the shape of the cave overall, the green gas that flowed steadily from the cave before dispersing around her. As always in the face of mystery and danger, Vivi held a daring smile. When no one spoke, she looked at her friends confusedly, but realized almost immediately the situation. Vivi turned to Arthur with a smile, shivering behind his giant protector uncertainly.

“Arty, nothing in here strikes me as dangerous, and when has my intuition been wrong? We’ll be fine, in and out in a flash. Nothing can hurt us when we’re together, remember?”

Arthur didn’t say anything, only nodded halfheartedly as he felt his fail. Before they reached any danger, he felt he’d probably end up dying from a heart attack or something-this wasn’t how he wanted to spend his Saturday at all, and this wasn’t where he wanted to be at anytime. Hands still gripping Lewis tightly, the boy in purple began to lead the group into the darkness, lit only by a flickering torch.

Mystery hugged Arthur’s heels as they entered the cave, guarding the boy as if he knew something the others didn’t. While Vivi chattered away at the interesting formation of the inside of the cave and Lewis lead in focused silence, the dog watched everything at once with complete awareness and contempt. Something in the low growling and big frown of the usually curious dog led Arthur, the only one who could see him in the back of the procession, to believe something was going on outside of Vivi’s near-psychic abilities.

“Oh, my god. Those are definitely bats, Lewis. Bats are never a good sign, have you not seen the horror movies? We’re probably walking straight into Dracula’s lair. In no way is this a good situation, not at all.” Arthur babbled, looking up towards the ceiling. He swore the one that stared back at him had glowing eyes of the same green as the cave. Possibly radioactive bats? Count this redheaded coward out.

Vivi giggled a little bit at her friends observation, quiet as she continued on, “They’re a natural part of the ecosystem, Arty. None of Washington’s bats eat anything but bugs, and they really aren’t that active unless you wake them up.” Vivi looked back at the cave ahead, quickening her pace as she hurried along with a finger pointing into the distance, “Oh, look Lewis! It breaks off into two different caves!”

The cave had been growing smaller, little by little. Up ahead, it split off into two smaller caves, one of which wasn’t much bigger than Vivi herself. Each road was labelled with two very helpful signs sporting three question marks and no further explanation as to the contents of the paths or what was down either. Wooden steps, surprisingly new for such an old looking cave, had appeared gradually beneath their feet, leading them onwards into what looked like a possible light source in either direction.

Arthur was still not that thrilled, “Lewis, are those skulls? Lewis those are definitely skulls. We need to get out of here, those look a lot like human skulls. Come on, this isn’t too difficult! People died here. Let’s turn around and forget about this place, go grab some lunch, maybe go swim in a cheap motel pool or something I mean, swimming is a lot more fun than dying, right?” he rambled on, his voice starting strong with terror before ending in a whimper tapering into nothing.

Lewis actually seemed to be listening this time, looking at Vivi with worry lighting his shaded eyes, “V, he might be right. Those skulls look pretty human, also pretty dead.”

She shook her head, pointing towards the smaller of the two paths without even considering ditching this new adventure, “No can do, we’re already this far, we better see it through. Mystery and I’ll take this path-it’s too small for you anyway, Lewis. Go up the alternate route, and we’ll meet up again in…” She looked down at her phone as she pulled it from her pocket, squinting through the fog, “thirty minutes. Sound good?”

“Nope. Doesn’t sound good at all.” Arthur whined as Lewis pulled away from his grasp and towards the opposite entrance.

“Sure, sounds like a plan,” He reached out a hand for Arthur, preparing to pull the boy along himself, “come on, Art, I’ll protect you. It’s just a cave, and if it goes up enough we’ll probably end up outside again. What do you say, buddy?”

Arthur glared at him, shooting daggers through his amber eyes, “If I didn’t need you right now, I’d probably punch you in the dick. No, I’d definitely punch you in the dick, no doubt in my mind.”

Lewis smiled as his older friend grabbed onto him again, and the two left Vivi and Mystery to ascend into the unknown of the cave. Vivi descended, thinking that her dog was close behind when in all actuality, Mystery, who had been eyeing Arthur for quite some time now, had hurried after the boys with the same disturbed look on his face.

Vivi’s tunnel opened up onto an eerily familiar looking clearing, the ground covered in stalagmites and green fog. She could barely see through the thickness of the gas surrounding her, and hoped that it wasn’t toxic in any way. The formations that grew from the ground seemed very sharp, like medieval fortifications, and even when she kicked a thin one they were too strong to break. In the back of her mind, she told herself not to fall forward: It would hurt.

She glanced up at the cliff jutting from the side of the clearing, catching a little movement out of the corner of her eye. Purple-pink hair jutting over the edge, Lewis was peering over the cliff, looking directly at her as he spoke something to Arthur, waiting far behind him. She was unsure if he actually saw her, or was just looking at the base of the cliff with the fog so terribly thick.

“Hey, Art, look at how far up we are, you can see this big clearing below.” Lewis observed, pointing down into what to Arthur was just more fog, “I think I saw Vivi down there, this must be where her tunnel ended, too. There’s another cave up ahead, it wouldn’t surprise me if she went up ahead without us, but this is as far as we can go. Come take a look.”

Arthur hated heights, and he was feeling just a little bit sick from the thought of being so high without anything to protect him or Lewis, “I know I sound like a broken record, but let’s head back, Lewis. We can’t go any further, anyway, and my arm is burning really bad.”

Lewis didn’t even look back, still immersed totally in the sight ahead of him, something beautiful in a horrific way, nearly tragic, “It’s probably nothing, Art, just a cramp. Yeah, that’s definitely Vivi down there, and either that shadow next to her is a very short stalagmite or Mystery. I hope she’ll wait for us.” Lewis continued on, but Arthur was only half listening now.

He scratched his arm quickly, looking at Lewis but not quite hearing him as he rattled on. Something was sneaking its way into his head, little whispers that Arthur couldn’t quite push away no matter how hard he tried.

 

_He makes you seem worthless._   
_Without him, Vivi would still count on you._   
_You’re better than him, Arthur._   
_Don’t let him make a fool of you._

 

Part of his face was growing numb, as though all connections to it had been cut off. He tried to look over to his left to see what was happening to his arm, but couldn’t move his neck or face to catch a glimpse. Everything having to do with the left side of his body was no longer within his control, and as his mind fought off the whispers in his brain, he felt his body bow down to the force within him.

 

_No, he's my friend...Vivi still cares for me, she just needs someone who can indulge her love for ghosts is all, someone who can love her the way Lewis does. I can’t do that! I’m just her friend!_

_She doesn’t need you when he’s around. If something were to happen to him, something very terrible…_

 

Arthur watched as his left arm was lifted up, his skin turned green by what he could only assume was the gas, or whatever hid within it. He opened his mouth to scream out, feeling his heart racing in panic for his friend, but was cut off once again by the voice in his head taking over, his words never making it to his tongue.

 

_You would be her favorite, Arthur. Her only._

 

“Lewis!” Arthur finally was able to cry out, his voice echoing through the cave as his body was thrust forward into a run. Nothing Arthur did could slow him down, nothing could stop the run he had broken into, and nothing could stop the cry of pain that left his body as he realized what was happening.

Everything Arthur had ever read or watched or played depicted these moments of adrenaline as excruciatingly slow, as though someone had hit the pause button to watch each and every frame take place, every detail unfold, but to Arthur, it all happened painfully fast. Lewis turned around, smile phasing to confusion and then fear as he realized what his best friend was doing; he heard below the shout of Vivi, calling out the name of the one she had only recently come to love, completely and purely; he felt his own eyes fill with tears as he couldn’t control himself, couldn’t save his friend, couldn’t even say he was sorry. This happened in a split second, no dramatic music to name it tragic, no time to fully register the pain. Arthur knew that what happened in this second was absolute, and all he could do was close his eyes.

When Lewis had turned around, he had only seen a flash of orange. He was falling now, falling and reaching and screaming as his torch was flung from his hand, trying and failing to grab the ledge as it fell out from beneath his feet. He looked to the side, watching in horror as Vivi tried to run for him, throwing her arms out as though she were going to catch him, her eyes pouring tears as though she were a heavy raincloud. In that instant, Lewis felt two emotions fill his body with a passion he had never felt, something extremely large, two-sided, and terrifying.

He was filled with the purest form of hatred, icy and chilling as it sent thin fingers of frost to freeze his glass heart into ice, Arthur’s face cradled between the feelings of betrayal and the pain that comes with not only the loss of a friend, but the loss of faith in them. On the other hand, he was filled with the most burning sense of love as his eyes met with Vivi’s, and in the clearness of his chilled heart, he was filled with an orange passion, the flames of affection turning the shell of anger into something alive, something beating.

His last thoughts were of Vivi, and with them, he prayed to whatever god that might listen that she would not remember any of this, that she would wake up the next morning without a clue as to who he was.

She didn’t deserve his death.

Still her voice cried into the depths of the caverns, and still he fell. Part of him grew to accept his fate, the fate of a dead man, but the majority of his emotions pointed towards feeling incomplete. In other words, the young Lewis was not prepared to move on. He didn’t plan on leaving this realm without some form of revenge.

He refused to leave without her knowing how he truly felt.

And just as soon as he fell, Vivi watched the boy she loved fall onto a stalagmite, his lifeblood pouring through his chest and mouth in a flood of gushing warmth with his arms thrown back as though he had angel wings. If he did, they wouldn’t be here right now. If he could fly, why would there be so many tears in her eyes?

The world around her was quiet, but this time, the silence wasn’t the comforting blanket of night she so loved and adored. This silence was that of death and despair, the inability to speak grasping the lungs of those who have forgotten how, preventing their cries be heard so that they may suffer alone. This is the silence of loss, and of reaching for the one who you so recently held to your breast in love. This is the silence of a broken heart which is not heard as it falls to the floor and shatters into a million pieces that can never be placed back together, no matter how much glue is dumped upon it or how many kisses a loved one bestows to heal it. Vivi had stopped running now, falling to her knees beside the large stalagmite in front of her as though she were praying to the lost. Her head bowed, shoulders slumped, cries echoing as though a choir mourned.

She heard in her ear the whispers of the one lost, a promise she could never remember before her sobs were muted. This is the silence of Lewis’ last wish, of his soul bursting from the shell of his body to grip with both hands the eyes of the beholder, the gateway of her soul and mind, to force his life from her memory, to leave her with nothing but her name before freeing himself into the night, into the unknown. This is the final gasp of a fallen lover.

Up above, Arthur was still fighting in vain, his left side battling his right in an attempt to gain total control, but he was weak. Riddled with self-doubt and hatred, his conscious was faltering to the confidence of possession, the unwavering loyalty to oneself that come with pure evil. The part of him that wasn’t possessed was trying its hardest to stumble towards the cliff, hoping with some false courage that somehow he would fall off of it himself to meet a fate beside Lewis. Everything was burning to him, and the only escape he saw was the cool clutches of death and decay.

His mind was gone now, all he could feel was the greenness that overtook him. Something was growling wildly, something with red eyes and sharp teeth staring at him with distrust and anger, but his vision was cut off by the spreading veil across his head. He wanted to faint, to be done, but what if this monster found Vivi?

Just then, he felt the pressure bound away from his mind, the whispers screaming into silence as they were ripped from their anchor and forced back into the fog as he gained his control back. His face synchronized with the tearful frown of his right, his legs all his own to use and walk away from the cliff with, his arm…

As his shoulder was once again in his field of control, Arthur cried out in the most bloodcurdling scream of pain, gripping the bone where his arm had been. Those flashing red eyes gripped his arm between their jaws, aggressively and ferally crying at him while its six tales whipped around angrily, saving his life with the pain of a lost arm. Even when he couldn’t hear himself, when the world was synchronized into one long note, Arthur could feel his lungs grow raw from screaming continuously. He was growing faint from watching his life spill upon the ground around him, covering the rock at his feet with blood.

His breathing labored and overall his prospect on living slim, Arthur didn’t really notice his feet falling out from beneath him in an attempt to walk away. As he was falling back, he felt his head hit something hard, and Arthur fell unconscious immediately after.


	10. Eyes Wide Open

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vivi awakens, finding her memory blank and too many people trying to fill it up with memories she can't recall while Arthur refuses to wake up. Even if her mind is empty, she knows he was a part of her, and can't stand to think that he may never wake up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this chapter is so long, I've been trying really hard to reduce chapter size but it just keeps getting longer and there's so much I want to fit onto one page! I probably rewrote this chapter four times at least trying to make it shorter, and this is the best I got!
> 
> **NOTICE**  
> I will be going back and rewriting a few of the prior chapters. I reread them the other day and...wow, I really do not like them as much as I did when I first posted. I've found myself a few new techniques I'd like to apply, and though I'd like to keep to my schedule of a chapter a day, I might have to slow it down a little while I touch a few things up. Expect a consistent schedule of a chapter every other day up until my school break ends!
> 
> And again, thank you so much for reading! You don't know how much it means to me that someone out their, even multiple people, like my writing enough to keep up with it. 
> 
> Without further ado...

The girl woke up with tears in her bright blue eyes, spreading from the creased corners of her lashes to the cherries of her cheeks fluidly as each lid fluttered open to greet a world so strange and new. With each drop of emotion that fell to her chin, the girl fought off a sob of anguish, the light within this new life dwindling to sorrow and pain. Her head was crying out to her as though her skull were constricting upon the fragile brain inside her head, and it took the girl all of her strength to wipe the dew of sadness from her skin without uttering a shout in response. Where was she? Why was she here? Who was she?

There were noises coming from somewhere in the room, a voice was speaking to her through a static signal as the sun violated her field of view with its rays too bright for the head of the beholder. Over stimulation was currently a possibility, and with every laborious breath she took, she willed the light and noise to go away so that she might find some false sense of peace in this world of too much. If nothingness were truly something she could obtain, the lack of all senses handed to her in a gift-wrapped box, this girl would’ve abandoned this world without a second thought or look behind.

Her headache was subsiding now, the strength leaving a dull soreness upon her frontal lobe as an imprint of it being there, a memory, just in case she forgot what true pain was. Even as she opened her eyes to gaze around at the world surrounding her, she knew nothing of her whereabouts or why she might be there; in fact, she really didn’t know anything, even concerning herself. Her eyes strayed down to her outstretched hands-fingernails chipped but painted a brilliant and bright blue, arms scratched but only lightly so, fingers short and chubby-hoping that maybe one of these minuscule details would clue her into who she was and why she was here. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and she just felt like an idiot looking at her hands intensely.

“Ah, you’re awake. That’s perfect, I have a few questions for you,” a voice called from the doorway of what the girl assumed was a hospital room, taking into consideration that she was absolutely sure that this man, dressed in a white jacket with a stethoscope around his neck, was a doctor. He clicked off the TV, playing an older version of the Scooby Doo series, before sitting in a wheelie-chair next to the hand sanitizer dispenser and picking up a notepad and pen. Even though she knew he was only there to help, the girl felt somewhat intruded upon, and pulled her blanket further up her chest. 

“My name is Dr.Coleman. I’ve been taking care of you since you came in here Saturday, today being the Monday directly after. Would you mind telling me your name, miss?” He smiled, readying his little notepad to be written on as he expected an answer.

Now, this was a really difficult question, and the girl was feeling sort of frustrated that she was expected to know something so important so soon in her small life. As far as she was concerned, she had just been born this morning, and this man had no right to force her to think of such frivolous things as a name-she had just assumed that it would come a lot later, when she had some time to think and choose. Still, she racked her brain as hard as she could for a suitable answer to the question she so hated, wondering if she should just choose one at random or let one claim her though time. How did people come up with names anyway?

“Ma’am, I just need your name, please. We found some identification on you, but we need to make sure that’s who you truly are. Can you tell me your name?”

Now she was angry that he was rushing her, and so the girl shot daggers at the doctor sitting next to her so calmly, crossing her arms and filling her voice with snake venom, “How am I supposed to know something like that? I don’t even know where I am.”

This took the doctor by surprise, preventing his hand from moving as he gaped slightly at the girl. Then, all at once, something clicked in his brain, and the doctor began writing furiously on his little notepad, whispering silently to himself as he did so.

“Ma’am, when is your birthday?”

Again, the girl took some time to think angrily to herself, wishing that the doctor would stop asking her such useless questions and let her figure them out for herself. As she thought back as far as she could, the only memories she had were remnants from since she woke up. If she thought hard enough, flashes of emotion came to her in short bursts, but nothing as vivid as what she knew she had experienced that day. 

“I...I don’t know, is that something I’m supposed to know by now?”

Dr.Coleman continued writing, not even looking up at her as his hand moved rhythmically back and forth across the page, “And who is our current president?”

She shook her head, not even trying to think back this time. Nothing in her limited memory had to do with trivia, and she hadn’t heard of a president on Scooby Doo. There would be nothing in her fragmented brain that would help her with this question.

“Alright, I want to schedule you for a few brain scans immediately to make sure your brain is safe and sound, but you may be experiencing a form of amnesia. You came into the hospital with a very minor concussion, but it may have been more serious than we thought-usually with traumatic experiences, any amnesia relates back to the accident, but you seem to have forgotten a lot more than just Saturday night. Is there anything you’d like me to call you, or would you rather wait and see if one of the contacts we called in your phone come in to answer for you?”

“I guess you can just call me-”

“Vivienne. Her name is Vivienne.” A voice called out from the entrance of the room, the outline of a man standing vigil in the doorway with his long hands rested upon the frame. He was thin, not very tall, and overall somewhat wimpy looking with wide eyes and the jerkiness of anxiety making his movements abrupt. For some reason, the girl felt like she knew him from somewhere, as though he had been a part of her life before her birth this morning. 

“May I ask who you are, sir?” The doctor questioned, looking at him skeptically as he clipped his pen to his notepad. The man cleared his throat, somewhat uncomfortable, almost as though he didn’t like social interaction and wanted to be anywhere but here, speaking to anyone but the mirror. That was it, she must know this man.

“I’m...I’m her father,” he attempted a smile, offering his hand stiffly to the doctor next to the girl’s bed with beads of sweat forming on his brow, “Julian Stronack. Her name is Vivienne Stronack, I’ve come to pick her up and take her back home, we have quite a drive ahead of us.”

Vivienne sounded like good name, but she didn’t like it. Something about it felt negative, as though it were something she should leave behind, something she already had left behind; and hi name, Julian...the girl looked up at the man with distrust in her eyes, feeling as though he were not someone she could trust. Whoever this man was, he had done something unspeakable to her, an action sh could not forgive. The girl lifted her head proudly to disagree with the man, to give this unlikely stranger a piece of her mind, but another voice entered the room before she could even think to answer.

“Like hell you’re her father.”

Heels clacking upon the floor of the hospital, a very tall and very thin woman hurried in with the presence of an angry high school principal, her brown hair packed tightly into a neat bun on the back of her head. The woman’s lips were pursed and eyes nothing but slits, and she looked as though she were about to tear the man limb from limb. He glanced at her with the fluttering of his heart worn upon his face, evident in the quick breaths he took, terrified of the woman yet still wishing to stand up to her. Like a defiant baby bird, he puffed out his chest and tried his best to look half as intimidating as she did.

“Yes, I am her father. Who are you exactly? You don’t have a right to be in here.”

“I have more of a right to be in here than your sorry ass. I’m Mary Blecher, the woman who raised your child from middle school onward,” She was in front of the girl now, looking directly into her eyes as she grabbed the sides of her face with worry, “Are you alright Vivi? I got here as quickly as I could, I was just upstairs with Arthur before his surgery, you weren’t up yet. Do you need anything? I can run down and grab your sweater from the Mystery Van if you like, you look cold.”

The girl shook her head, somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of people claiming to be very diverse and important aspects of a life she wasn’t sure she was even really a part of. Her thoughts and feelings were all turned around, and bits of her memories were interfering with her own assumptions. Despite the terrifying and intimidating actions and aura of the woman in front of her, she felt safe when she placed her hand upon her shoulder protectively, and even though he seemed mild and just as terrified as she was, the girl couldn’t stand the presence of the man who claimed to be her father.

“I’ll tell you what she told me many years ago, what she has continued to tell me ever since I met her. Her name is Vivi Mystery, and she long ago abandoned the name Stronack because she didn’t want to be anything like you. She didn’t want any part of her to lead back to you because you left her to fend for herself when she was too young to even tie her shoes right. When I asked to meet you to thank the man who reared the daughter who saved my son, she denied that she even had a father, claiming that he died a long time ago, and if she hadn’t confided in me the truth, I would still think you dead. I have quite a few bones to pick with you, mister, and if we weren’t on public property, you would be a dead man. Either you turn tail and run right now, or I do what any parent worth their salt would do and chase you out of here myself, do you hear?” The woman ordered the man, her hand tightening its grip on the girl’s shoulder as her voice was raised to a passionately strong shout. Somehow, the words and memories the woman recalled felt strangely right, and the girl-Vivi, as she began to remember-felt that she was hearing the truth from the woman’s mouth. In response, she leaned a bit closer into the woman’s grasp, allowing her to comfort Vivi further.

The man looked as though he were either about to burst into an angry rage or cry profusely, surprise lighting his face in a shade of embarrassed crimson cheeks. His voice was hardly anything more than a whimper as he tried to take a step forward, to regain the ground he had lost under the scrutiny of the woman guarding his offspring, “I...I have a right to be here. She is my blood, and-”

“I may be your blood, but I am not your family.” Vivi spoke up, surprising herself with the darkness in her voice, the low growl that she had resorted to when talking to him. There was a new kind of courage in her veins, filling her with fire, “I may not remember anything, but I know to trust my instinct, and my instinct says that you need to leave. I am Vivi Mystery, and I am not in any way but biology your daughter.”

The man sputtered as though he were going to argue with these words, but any determination that had been shown on his face had died the moment she spoke up, and he was left in silence. His eyes grew soft, his mouth down turned, and he bit his lip gently and nervously as he mulled over something deep in his brain. One, two, three steps he took back before finally he turned around and fled just as Ms.Blecher had asked; the woman had some seriously commanding presence, and Vivi could only imagine how terrifying it must be when you were on the opposite side of her affections. All in all, Vivi was glad to have this woman on her side, and as the tension in the room died down to a light sizzle, everyone within began to relax. Vivi turned to the woman with a little bit of confusion tinting her face, even more confused after the scene that had just played out in front of her.

“You said your name is Mary Blecher. Where do I know you from?” Vivi began to ask, but as the words slipped past her lips and reached into the room, a picture flashed across her mind with the most lucidity she had experienced upon waking, a picture of a boy. He was her age, early twenties, with the same frame as the woman in front of her with hair a near amber orange with a small clump of brunette sticking up rebelliously from the middle, an overall cowardly, scared young man. As vividly as the room in front of her, she remembered this boy she had never seen as though he were standing right beside her. She grasped onto that little bit of memory-an actual picture in a blank, white room-with all of might in hopes that she could hold onto it, explore it, keep it as her own. It was something stable, something familiar in its unfamiliarity, something she needed even if she didn’t know how.

“Arthur! You remind me of Arthur! Where is he? Who is he? I must see him, I need to see him.” She cried out, grasping frantically at Ms.Blecher as she tried to climb from her bed. Both the woman and the doctor stood up to push her back into the blankets, trying to prevent her from overworking her aching and sore, sleep-weary body to a point of injuring herself, but Vivi fought them off as best she could. She needed to see the only memory she had, the only person she truly remembered as existing in a world before her rebirth.

“Easy there, tiger,” Ms. Blecher tutted, giving the girl a final, firm push back into the bed before straightening her white blouse and adjusting her glasses. Vivi gave into the strength of her two keepers, looking up at the woman with a hurt expression, “Even if you were one hundred percent healthy and able to come and go as you please, Arthur just went into surgery and won’t be out for another hour at least.”

This startled Vivi, and she could feel her heart sink to the bottom of her empty stomach like a cracked and rusted anchor upon the ocean floor, “Is he okay? What happened?”  
With this question she was met by an eerie silence, and if the pain in her heart was anything to go by, Vivi didn’t like silence one bit. The doctor stood up, bowed slightly as a farewell with a few kind words, and left the two alone in the room to discuss the boy she remembered so clearly. As he walked out, Ms.Blecher readied herself to speak with her hands placed neatly on the lap of her pencil skirt.

“Well, Vivi, we don’t really know what happened the night that you two came in. Last Saturday, or so the doctor tells me, you and my boy were found in Arthur’s van on the side of a fairly deserted road. The ambulance came after you called for emergency help. All the way here neither of you would wake up, so they don’t know what really happened in that car, but y Arthur was...he didn’t…”

She covered her mouth lightly with a gentle hand, tears edging the corner of her eyes with the threat of falling noiselessly to the floor. Ms.Blecher stared forward and into the distance as though she hoped that, if she didn’t blink, she might not let those precious gems fall from her lids. The woman swallowed the stone in her throat and spoke back with a voice sporting as much control as a drill sergeant, ditching any emotion to look once again at Vivi with glistening eyes, “His arm was ripped off, his entire arm was just...gone. You called and they got down just in time to stop him from bleeding to death, all the doctor’s call it a miracle, but he lost his arm. You’ve both been unconscious for the past few days, and I’ve been so worried…”

She reached down to hug Vivi fully, embracing the girl and gripping onto her long and hard with the shaking of silent sobs racking her thin body, trying her best to contain them but failing as she curled her fingers in the blue head of the daughter she thought she had lost, “They don’t know when he’ll wake up, if he’ll wake up. They said you had given up, it looked like you wouldn’t wake up either, Vivi. I thought I was going to lose both of you at the same time, both of my beautiful children, my two lucky stars. I’m just...I’m so glad you woke up, Vivi. I’m so happy you’re okay.”

They lingered like that, intertwined as mother and daughter emotionally if not by blood. Something in her embrace was frantic, suffocating, but still Vivi wished she’d never let go of her. In this world of too much, in this moment she wanted more of the woman who she felt so attached to, the woman who had protected her at the most vulnerable of her days.

As Ms.Blecher pulled away, tears still glistening on her very edgy and prominent face, Vivi felt remnants coming back to her, memories of a childhood long gone in a broken down apartment covered in the knick-knacks of a young and loving girl, littered with scraps of her heart in the form of porcelain figurines and superhero posters. She remembered the orange-haired boy, and she remembered days spent eating at the dinner table of the stern-faced Ms. Mary Blecher, the cheerful girl who’d befriended her son chattering to the quiet family of everything all at once.

“Can I ask you for a favor?” she asked, looking into the amber-orange eyes of the woman who had cared for her for so many years as a daughter of her own, even if she lived apart and was a tad quirky for the serious family she had been adopted into. As Vivi expected, the woman nodded silently.

“Tell me everything, from the moment you met me to the last time I saw you, spoke to you, anything. Tell me every single detail of every single day of you and Arthur and my life, even the minuscule details you don’t care about,” she pleaded, grabbing the hands of Ms.Blecher in her own, “I don’t know if I’ll remember anything, but I know I loved you, and I know I loved Arthur. Tell me everything.”

Ms.Blecher, a bittersweet smile lighting her stone cheeks, was more than happy with this request. She bowed her head slightly as she thought as far back as was possible, her hands still clasped in the chubby fingers of her adopted daughter.

“Well, it all began when a blue-haired angel jumped from her balcony to save my boy…”

 

 

“I see you’re still lazing around.”

She was standing in the doorway of the hospital room, dog on her heels and flowers wrapped up in her hands, a hand-picked assortment of bright blue and magenta daisies filling a simple glass vase with bursts of bright color, like fireworks at midnight. Everything about her-posture, expression, even movement-denoted a kind of mourning that not even she could understand, and the girl who only wore blue was dressed entirely in black. Gently, she placed the vase of flowers upon the table next to Arthur’s bed, watching as Mystery placed his paws on their friend’s bed to catch a glimpse of the sleeping boy.

Vivi sat down in a chair next to him, looking out into the night beyond his window with a quiet kind of melancholy that had wrapped its fingers around her, suffocating any chance that she might be cheerful in the days following her rebirth. The only smiles she had nowadays were reserved for Arthur and Mary. Her voice was raw as she spoke, her throat dry and speech crackling.

“I know you’ll wake up soon, I just wish you’d hurry up. It’s been a week now, Arty, and I’m getting pretty lonely with just your Mom for company,” She tried to tease, pulling the chair she sat in just a tad bit closer to the bed, “I mean, don’t rush it if you feel you need it to recover, you need to worry about yourself being healthy. I can wait, just don’t milk it if you can.”

It was silent for a few moments, the lack of noise whirling around Vivi threateningly and driving her just a little bit crazy. With the remote on Arthur’s bedside table, she flipped on Scooby Doo as she always did, the only thing she really remembered liking, “You know, it was super hard getting Mystery in here. I’m pretty sure if the nurses find him in here again they’ll kick me out for good. I was hoping maybe seeing him again would help you to wake up, but I guess not. He really misses you. I really miss you.”

Her hands had snaked up to grab Arthur’s remaining one, rubbing circles on the inside of his palm with her thumb gently to comfort herself more than anything, “I’ve been going through our van-I hope you don’t mind, I kinda snooped around in your stuff by accident. I’m guessing your stuff is orange and mine is blue and pink, right? Or maybe you like pink? I don’t know, but all of the pink stuff in our van makes me feel...safe, especially the big sweaters. That’s why I got you blue and pink flowers, so you’d know they were from me when you woke up.”

She looked back down at Arthur from her gaze on the colorful daisies, his eyes still closed in sleep as they always had been with his breathing deep and slow, “I’m starting to remember some things. Your Mom is really helping me with the old stuff, but I feel like there’s something missing, Arty. Something important.” Vivi tightened her grip slightly, feeling her voice crack just the slightest as she looked down at her black dress, her mourning clothes, “I don’t know why, but my heart hurts really bad, like I lost something special and close to me. Maybe I just miss you, talking to you and travelling around and stuff.” she licked her lips as her tears subsided, pushing them back into the depths of her mind without indulging them, her mind wandering as it always did, “Did I love you? As more than a friend, or am I thinking too hard? I really don’t know, Arthur.”

As her words came to an end, Vivi felt her mind fall blank like it so often did without memories to mull over. With nothing else to report or ponder, she fell into the silence she so hated, worshiping the antics on TV without anything else to keep her sane. She leaned down to place a kiss gently upon Arthur’s forehead, hoping her touch would bring him back to life as all the fairy tales had told her. Her lips lingered just the slightest upon his brow as she tried to feel something more than despair, tried to gauge if she had once felt something towards the ginger-headed boy. Then, without anything more to do, she felt her head lean forward into the crook of his elbow, and Vivi’s eyes closed, sleep touching her gently and giving her release.

As she fell into the darkness of night without dreams, Arthur’s arm shifted lightly beneath her. Eyes open and hands clenched, he looked up at the ceiling with nothing but regret touching his tattered soul.


	11. Get Me Out Of Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur is still trying to deal with what he did that fateful Saturday night. Vivi doesn't know why her friend is so sad, and even if she can't remember exactly how they used to be, she knows the way he's acting isn't right. When you're as lonely as a girl without her memory and boy who just murdered his best friend, there isn't anywhere else to turn but towards each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little short, but I'll get back to my crazy long chapters

"Arthur, are you alright?"

Vivi was standing in the doorway, pausing before entering the hospital room with worry lighting her newly sparkling eyes. Something in the way her friend was looking into his lap, something in the way he didn't even look up at her as she entered the room with the clacking of her shoes upon the tiled floors, something in the way his eyes displayed such sadness lead her to fear for his happiness. In the doorway, she paused, and waited, and waited.

He had been like this for what felt like years. Since Arthur had woken up, not once had he smiled at Vivi, and though she didn't remember much about anything she did remember his sideways smirk brightening the room she walked into with every breath she pulled. She remembered his happiness even if he was usually scared, and she knew that something must've been bugging him to lead him to such silence, such brooding thoughts. There is a fluid connection between two best friends who have had their fingers tied together by red string, and she could feel his distress as clearly as the sun shining outside his window.

In all actuality, Arthur had been thinking of Lewis. He hadn't been lucky enough to forget everything, and with every passing second the boy pictured within his tormented head the scene he had tried so hard to push from his memory, the murder of one of his only two friends. He could still feel his hand upon the soft fabric of Lewis' vest, pushing the boy off of the cliff and watching him fall, crying out in confusion at first but then fear as everything was taken away from him in one swift second. His eyes closed so he could gather his thoughts before looking back up at Vivi, hoping she would think him sincere as he spoke.

"The doctor was just in a little bit ago, he said I have to wait at least two months for my prosthetic limb. I just don't know what I'm going to do during all that time, and I guess I'm kind of bitter that all I'm getting is some cheap piece of plastic. If I had two hands, I could definitely make something a whole lot better with my metal."

Something stabbed at his heart with that lie, and he tried to hide his left shoulder as best he could from her line of sight. He really didn't want to be here right now, he didn't want to be with Vivi or the doctor or anyone. Right now, all Arthur wanted to do was stare at the ceiling and dig his nails into his palm so hard that they bled, the pain bringing him a little bit of peace without Lewis on his mind. Instead, he rubbed his left shoulder gingerly, closing his eyes once more to keep Vivi from seeing how lost he truly was.

She sat down next to him, grabbing his hand in hers like she always did when she visited. That hurt the most.

"I came here for story time, but if you aren't feeling up to it you know I can wait. We can watch a movie or maybe play a game, it doesn't matter much to me. I just want to make sure you're okay, Arthur. Your the only person I got right now."

This made his heart hurt even more. He had thought of leaving her behind more than once, contemplated in all seriousness the possibility that his death may be better for both of them than this guilt and sadness that followed him around instead. Nothing made him happy anymore, not even listening to his best friend light up with her stories and adventures with his mother and all around town. He tried to smile up at her, but it felt awkward and probably looked terrifying.

"No, maybe telling a story will help get my mind off of things. Where did we leave off yesterday?" He fibbed, knowing that it would only do the opposite. As always, he couldn't let Vivi down, and he could tell that she was tired of watching Megas XLR on his bad days. She smiled, unable to contain her excitement at learning more of their past.

"You were just about to talk about our first ghost hunt, but you started feeling tired."

Now he remembered, and he really wished he had chosen to watch a movie instead. Their first ghost hunt was at the high school in the bathroom, when he was still a senior and she had just been promoted to manager of the Tome Tomb. Arthur bit his lip, trying his hardest to come up with a reasonable way to tell the story but divert the attention away from their new friend at the time. He could always say they found nothing, or that they got some interesting readings on the laptop but nothing else.

But why did he have to lie to her? Should he maybe tell her about Lewis, explain to her who he was and how she felt about him...and how Arthur had ended that? He caught her staring out into the distance often, eyes soft with a sadness that she herself couldn't understand The girl of bright blue began to wear bits and pieces of black, and with every outfit she chose a splash of magenta to go along with. Every once in a while, when she thought he was sleeping and she was curled up on the couch in his hospital room, he could hear her sobbing silently to herself. Maybe it was time for him to tell her, time for him to explain just who the man in purple-pink was, the fourth member of the Mystery Skulls.

"Arthur, I think she wants to talk to you."

At the door, a woman waited for Arthur to acknowlege her, her big brown eyes filled with confusion and worry as she lifted a hand to knock on the frame. She was short and chubby, similar in build to Vivi, but her hair was long and black and her skin a darker, richer color than the paleness of the girl right next to him. Arthur could see on Vivi's face that hint of recognition that made her eyes squint and her eyebrows knit, and he grabbed her arm as quickly as he could before she could remember the hispanic woman.

"Vivi, I need you to leave. Right now." He panicked, forcing her to look at him rather than the woman who waited to speak with him, "I don't know how long it'll be, so just go wait for my Mom to come by. We'll have to wait until next time for this story."

"Arthur, is everything okay? What's happening?"

He shook his head, not looking her in the eyes completely as he felt dishonesty rising in his throat and onto his face, "I can't tell you right now, but I'll explain everything later. Go finish looking through the van or reading those ghost books, I just need to talk to this woman in private."

Vivi didn't stand up right away, looking at Arthur with a mix of pain and worry as he urged her to leave him. She wasn't sure she trusted him right now, knowing that he could do some pretty stupid things when he got down on himself-she vaguely remembered a night where she had to talk him out of harming himself after the last time he saw his father, even if the memory was very far away and hard for her to see. Still, she looked at him and saw in his eyes the purest of pleading, and she left the room without any further question, only glancing at the woman as she left.

Arthur looked back up at the woman now, his eyes fading back into the darkness they had come to know so well, "I'm sorry about that, Mrs.Garza. I know how much you wanted to see her, but...we can't have that right now. Please take a seat."

 

 

 

 

 

Hidden beneath piles of duffel bags, Vivi had found a treasure trove within the Mystery Skulls van. Within a ratty old cardboard box, eaten away at by years of neglect and disregard, she had stumbled upon an entire world of books, all carefully annotated by the curving cursive of a very knowledgeable ghost hunter and the more casual and loose pink handwriting and highlighting of someone different. At first, Vivi had just assumed it had been her own, but as time went by she recognized that her own writing style was nothing like either voices. Not remembering who had written in them or where she had gotten the boooks, Vivi settled with the thought that she had bought them from the same person at the bookstore she worked at all that time ago.

She had read through half of them within a week, carefully reviewing each and every word the two had written within them and trying to absorb them as best she could. Remembering things didn't come easy for her, even when it was new information. She was trying to figure out how she could possibly remember everything when she came upon a yellow notepad, the front covered in ghost duct tape, the inside filled to the brim with detailed observations and information on her prior hunts.

Vivi had found the jackpot.

Every supernatural thing she had ever hunted was in there, along with the detailed explanation of how the team overcame them . She saw a description of an encounter with a rustle of reapers as they congregated on the night of New Year's Eve, a chase through the forest with a mystical sprite, and even a chase through a haunted maze infested by cultists. She could feel, with every description she read, her memories coming back to her slowly but surely, bouncing up as though cued or reminded by the words so sloppily pasted upon the page. She saw her and Arthur and Mystery, the whole team, fighting off and dispelling demons and ghosts left and right. Sometimes, she remembered, she would go into haunts by herself-or did she? Part of her felt like she had someone there with her each time, but she couldn't remember who. Would Arthur really let her explore by herself, anyway?

"Excuse me, Vivi," A familiar voice called out from behind the girl. She whipped around, dropping the notepad lightly onto the floor as she was startled by the sudden noise when she thought she was all alone, "I don't mean to intrude, I just...I wanted to come say hello and goodbye."

It was the woman, the short hispanic woman Vivi had left Arthur with a few hours prior before coming down to finish looking through the van, "No, you're quite alright." Vivi smiled, standing up to come to the back door of the van with hands clasped in front of her, feeling as though she knew this woman but not finding her in any of her retrieved memories, "I'm sorry, I don't remember you. I don't know if Arthur mentioned that, I lost my memory. What was your name?"

The woman looked down sadly at this. As Vivi drew near, it was clear that the woman had been crying, her brilliant brown eyes tinged with the redness of tears. Vivi sat with her legs dangling over the edge of the van as the woman composed herself as best she could, taking in a large breath as she looked at Vivi with the biggest smile she could muster.

"My name is Mirabel, I was...my family was fond of you. I just came by to check on Arthur and you after I heard what happened. It was a little too far to travel with the whole family, but I tell you they all miss you very much." she blinked hard as Vivi tried her best to remember her, feeling something clawing at the side of her head each time she thought she grabbed the memory, "I know you probably won't be coming through your hometown very often or soon, but if you ever need a place to stay..."

Vivi smiled through the pain of the headache that was beginning to form in her head, trying her absolute best too look at her with understanding and reassurance, "Of course, I'd love to hear all about how we met. Who knows, I might remember by time I see you next!"

The woman didn't speak for awhile, and when she did it was not with her words but through a very tight and suffocating hug. With every second Vivi was wrapped in her arms, Maribel's arms tightened, and Vivi might've panicked if she didn't feel so at home, "You were like family to us. I'm sorry this happened to you, Vivi. I'm sorry it happened to him, too."

She let go of Vivi to give her one last pat on the back, leaving without looking back into the parking lot. Vivi assumed she meant Arthur, but there was a sneaking suspicion within her heart that she wasn't referring to the girl's best friend. As she began to entertain the possibility, a pang of pain ran through her head, and Vivi decided to push those memories away. Clearly, she wasn't ready to view them yet.

She was about to turn around when she saw Arthur approaching, holding his left shoulder carefully in his hands, wires flying from the exposed skin. Her heart burst into her throat as she watched him running towards her, eyes frantic and breathing heavy as he went as quickly as he could, "Arthur, what the hell? What are you doing down here, you need to go back up to your room!"

He shook his head as he came to a stop in front of the van, placing his hand on his knee while he panted out a reply, "I can't take it, Viv, I can't take another day of being in there." He swallowed, looking up at her with those sad eyes begging her to listen, "I don't want a damn prosthetic, I want to make my own arm with my own hand. I want to be on the road again. I want to travel with you and get away from these memories. You don't remember what happened that night, but I do, and..."

She stopped him, her grin bittersweet as she offered him a hand into the van, interupting him as he said the only words she had wanted to hear from day one, "You don't have to explain, Arthur," Part of her wanted to know, but she was just happy that he still was her friend, that he still wanted to follow her into the darkness that they had claimed a year or so before, "Let's get out of here."


	12. Physically Sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis, after resting many months in darkness, is once again given a sense of consciousness. After the happenings of that Saturday so long ago, there is a lot for him to think about, and a lot for him to consider and create.  
> Arthur, on the other hand, has finally finished his arm. Despite all of this time he hasn't been able to tell Vivi of the most important memory of all, and though she knows it is something very important, she will always love and respect her best friend. Still, she has some sneaking suspicion of what she's keeping from him...

Lewis was floating in the neverending darkness.

He was suspended by a clear string, held precariously by nothing more than a thin chance and a little bit of misplaced hope that somehow, he would get himself out of this mess. His darkness was more than turning off the lamp at night: it was a thick oil wrapped around him, sticking to his skin and seeping into his pores with the poison of the unknown creeping into his gaping jaw. He couldn’t see anything through the denseness around him, couldn’t breathe with the suffocating nothingness that held him so firmly, but for some reason he didn’t need to. Lewis didn’t need to breathe or see or know just where he was in order to know just what he was here to do.

He had to kill Arthur.

Something grabbed him, pulled him from the darkness gently and carefully, their hands soft and loving as they held tightly onto his wavering existence and lead him away. He tried to turn around, tried his hardest to catch a glimpse of the one who held him so dearly, but still the blackness was too thick, and still he couldn’t move save for the pathway they made for him. They were pulling him along as though he were floating on a lazy stream with the sluggishness and patience of not having to worry.

 

_Who are you?_

 

The voice that met his conscious was that of many, sung in such a sing-song voice that it could’ve been a melody carried through the oil thickness by a wayward breeze or ripple in the liquid around him. Each sang a harmony of the same song, each raising their voice into a different note and heading down a different harmonic path. They were asking him for an identity, questioning who he was as they pulled him along the river slowly, quizzing him on something he wasn’t sure he truly knew himself. Even if he didn’t know, he remembered the name assigned to him, the name he was known by. He tried to clear his throat but discovered he didn’t have one.

“I am Lewis.”

The disappointment of his carriers was nearly tangible, leaving flashes of color to stain the oil in front of Lewis. This answer was not something that satisfied them, and as they continued to pull him slowly along, their voices were raised once more into the world around him.

 

_Who are you, truly? You are no longer just a name. You are much more._

 

The world in front of him was black once again, the splashes of color gone from his field of view and hidden as he tried to close his eyes, the eyes he no longer had. Nothing made sense, and he felt himself growing angrier and angrier as he began to miss his body, his physical form, his ability to understand what was happening to him. The darkness in front of him was begging to be painted, pleading to be stained and colored upon, and with the vividness of lividness his voice, though not spoken, was nearly a yell as he cried out into the darkness surrounding him.

“I am anger. I am hatred. I am the one who was betrayed. I am the one who would take a bullet yet was stabbed in the back. I am the one who seeks revenge.”

The voices were silent, absorbing the icy blues and cold whites that splashed onto the blank canvas in front of them with focus and thought. Lewis could feel his soul rising with every word, lifting itself to meet the emotion that ruled him so completely in this world of darkness. Nothing else mattered to Lewis in these moments of non-existence, nothing but the fall of the one who let him fall into this nothingness, the demise of the one who killed him so coldheartedly. With every ounce of his being, he hated the one he had called his best friend, and in that instant he was only the burning cold hatred of the last moments of his life.

 

_Is that who you truly are?_

 

Before Lewis could answer back with what he believed to be the truth, a resounding and definite yes, he paused and pondered who he truly was inside this icy cold heart. Was he truly a being made only of hatred and revenge, or was there something more to him? His memories flashed further back to his siblings, the immense warmth he felt for them; he thought of his parents and how, despite their caging of his own dreams and aspirations, how he would do anything to please them and keep their own dream alive; and most of all, he thought of the girl in blue, the one he had loved enough to make her forget.

“No, I am more. I am compassion. I am love. I am the blanket that protects the ones I love in the dead of night. I am the one who sacrificed her memories for her comfort and sanity. I am in love.”

Now the world in front of him inherited a new shade, overrun with so many hues of pink and red and orange that the beings who dragged him along were forced to stop in order to gaze fully at its brilliance, its luminescence. They reached out their tiny arms to grip the colors that made the sky so bright, humming lightly as they touched the paint upon the canvas. Lewis looked at their many arms, their white complexion, and he remembered in that instance the pale things that had lead him towards Vivi in the first place, the indents of their hearts filling with the colors that made him who he was.

Lewis restricted view widened, and he was now fully aware of them. It came back to him in a storm, the humming and singing voices raised in the gothic mansion with the harmonies that only the greatest of choirs could hope to replicate, the way they had grabbed and brushed against him so curiously. Here they were, caressing him and the colors he brought so beautifully into the darkness, caring for him loyally and dutifully as he floated in the nothingness. They had been waiting for him, they needed him in order to be whole.

All of them were turning pink now, absorbing his love over his hatred with the eagerness of children on Christmas day. With each swipe they grabbed the color that Lewis had stained the brightest, a color of love and gentleness, the one he wore so often and with such pride even in life. He felt a pulse fill the air, and with it their hearts filled with flames. He was no more than a husk, a shell, a glass locket lacking the colors of the world and emotion around him, and yet with that pulse he was filled with the hatred and love he felt so dearly to him. On the outside, the hatred of Arthur turned him orange; on the inside, Vivi’s smile reminded him of his love.

 

_What do you look like?_

 

The ghosts surrounding him were fully pink now with the same orange heart he had become, their eyes opening as they swirled around him, just as they had the first time they had seen him, their hands touching him without ever breaking contact. He knew exactly what he had become, more than just a ball of energy neatly shaped into a meaningful symbol: he was the locket that he had rested above his chest, his soul running towards this tether before it could be forced into whatever afterlife waited for him, connecting and becoming the glass necklace and tying itself to the picture inside. But what was he truly? What fully represented him, what was his true form in this new life?

“I am the skeleton of my former self, a phantom in the face of my living form. My joints are filled with the profound darkness that once surrounded me, and my ribs still surrounding the only thing I have now. I am no more than a heart protected by the bones of my past.”

With every word leaving his mouth, with each picture he formed in his head, Lewis felt himself changing into something new, something he could never fully imagine. He was whatever his imagination could create, and yet the ones who lead him from the darkness made him even better, gave him another kind of life. His hands were black and plated with bone, his body similar to what he had once been but wrapped in a suit with highlights of magenta, his chest wrapped in ribs to protect his center of being, his heart. He lifted a hand to feel his head, no more than a skull. This was who he had become, who he felt he truly was now.

 

_Now, finally, where are you?_

 

Lewis didn’t know where to start. He thought of all the places he had ever been in his relatively short life, every adventure and every home, even back to the little house his family owned in Mexico. Every moment of his life played before him in a slideshow of possibilities, and for awhile he searched for what had made him the happiest, where he had been during the height of his life. It came to him with a burst of utmost certainty.

“I am in the mansion with Vivi.”

The world around him morphed, the oil banishing itself to become the house he saw so vividly in front of his glowing pink eyes. Beneath his feet appeared the hard wooden floors, scuffed and scratched after years of neglect, the wallpaper ripped and peeling with the faded stripes turning dusty and bleached in places where the sun met the dark. Down the hallway, he gazed with melancholy, were the candles she had so adored, she had become so immersed in...he looked away, not able to gaze upon them without feeling the heart he held his hand over become frozen with pain and longing. The ghosts whirled around him still, waiting for something.

“Is this it, where I’ll be staying for the rest of my undeath?”  

 

_Only if you want it to be._

 

He thought deeply to himself, contemplating how he should set up the rest of the mansion, not quite wanting to live in one room for the rest of eternity. He had seen from the entryway the chandelier so long ago, and as he remembered the moment fondly where her eyes had lit up with such love and adoration, the candles along the wall burst into pink fire. As he pictured each and every little thing in his mind, it became a reality, and it didn’t take long before he was surrounded by the fully formed mansion just as he thought it had been.

He focused again on his new friends, feeling so indebted to the no longer pale things that waited so diligently on him, the ones who had brought him out of the darkness. With just a little bit of uncertainty entering his tired voice, he looked back upon his work with only her in his mind, only the shining of her curious eyes and the smile so cutely shaped upon her mumbling lips.

“Do you...do you think she would like it?”

And his new friends looked upon him with their orange eyes opened wide and full of the flames of his past, never straying from their loyalty to their new master as they continued their song.

 

_She would love it._

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

“Hey, Viv, can you pull over for a moment?”

It was the dead of the night, the freeway beneath the van humming a continuous note into the starry sky above them, clear of clouds and opening up before them as they traversed the Midwest. Vivi hated driving the car in any situation as she was painfully aware of how easy it was for her to get distracted by anything she found mysterious, including but not limited to broken down houses, spooky forests, and giant ominous caves billowing green smoke. Arthur had never let her drive his beloved van with this in mind, knowing they’d never get to their destination, but she had been strangely focused on getting to where they were going-nowhere, to be exact. He couldn’t drive with only one arm, and she was doing a very good job at staying on track as though she knew her last curious exploration had lead to something absolutely dreadful.

She pulled over, the road empty save for a few stray cars heading somewhere or other. Arthur had been working day and night on his robotic arm, chugging energy drinks and iced coffee as though he breathed caffeine. In the past few weeks he had probably read more books than in his entire life on the nervous system and prosthetics, using his prior knowledge on metal working and mechanics to create something he had hoped would work. After many painful connections and even more failures, it was clear that Arthur wasn’t going to give up on his new limb.

“Same as always, can you help me connect some of the wires? I can’t reach all of them with only my right hand.” He asked, offering up the metal limb as she leaned forward. She hadn’t noticed with her focus on the road, but already half of the wires sticking from his arm were connected to their partners in the metal, “If this works I’ll solder them, but this’ll have to do until I can get to my tool kit.”

She reached her hands over the metal, her clumsy fingers growing accustomed to the task, “How did you get all those wires in your shoulder anyway? I know you know metal, but I didn’t think you were a surgeon or anything.”

He didn’t look away from her hands as he answered back, watching her carefully for any slight misstep, “They connected them to my shoulder while I was still in the hospital. Prosthetics have come a lot further than I thought they had, but none of them are as good as this arm will be once I totally finish it. I won’t be able to truly feel anything other than the metal against my shoulder, but I should be able to move it just like my old one.” He was lost in thought, a genuine smile gracing his usually frowning lips, "Maybe one day, I’ll be able to upgrade it to feel pressure at least, maybe even the complexities of my right arm, but I just don’t know enough about anatomy to do that now.”

This was exactly what Vivi had been waiting for, and as Arthur was lost in lala-land, she shoved his arm into its socket. With a high-pitched yelp and an over dramatic flinch backwards, he gripped his newly connected shoulder tenderly with his eyes staring at his friend in both surprise and distrust. She wiped her hands on her skirt dutifully.

“What the hell was that?”

“I’ve seen you put it in enough times to know how to connect your arm, Cheeto. It’s better when you can’t mull over how much it’ll hurt, when you don’t know when its coming-I watched you last time, you took an entire day to connect the last arm. Now we have quick results. How does it feel?” Vivi smiled. Arthur was still running a hand over his flesh gingerly, not quite ready to try it out. The first few moments of connection were always the most painful, and he wasn’t looking forward to the next few exercises.

He lifted his hand forward, smacking his face comically as he overestimated the force necessary to perform the simple action.

Vivi was trying her hardest not to break out laughing as she merged back onto the freeway, but Arthur, who would usually show an amazing amount of embarrassment at his miscalculation, was ecstatic. After at least fifty attempts, he had finally gotten the arm to move more than a few inches-this was a moment to be celebrated, a point at which his life would turn around, a day to rejoice.

“Holy shit, Viv, did you see that? I think...I think this is it! I made my arm, a made a working robotic arm!” He fell into a sort of maniacal laughter, tipping his head back as his eyes burned bright as flames. He lifted his arm into the air triumphantly, “I am unstoppable!”

Now Vivi was giggling at her friends clear enthusiasm, absolutely ecstatic herself at the thought that he was truly smiling, truly laughing at something other than her. There had been times where she thought he would never truly smile again, never crack his little puns and snide comments, never again would he truly be happy; but here and now, Arthur was smiling a pure and genuine smile, his laugh more than just a show he put on for his friend. He was filled with accomplishment, brimming with pride, finally showing the signs of healing into what Vivi remembered. Even if her memory was limited, she remembered that much.

He was looking a little calmer now, his face bittersweet with a smile that wasn’t quite happy, but still genuine, “You know I didn’t think I was gonna make it at times. I didn’t want to make it.” he looked over at her, rolling his metal wrist as he continued testing out the movement, “Maybe losing this arm was a blessing, so I could immerse myself so much in creating a new one...I’m still sad, but I think I can be happy again. I think I can live with myself.”

Vivi’s clear happiness faded to confusion, a new sense of worry infiltrating deeply into the sense of safety and new joy she was only now experiencing, “I thought the reason you were sad was because of your arm. If you hadn’t lost it, you wouldn’t have been sad, right?”

Arthur’s eyes flashed quickly with a little bit of understanding, dulling once again as she felt the lie leaving his lips, if only to protect her from the memory he knew would surface at the moment of him admitting his fault, “Yeah, that’s it. I guess you’re right, I wouldn’t have...I wouldn’t have felt so sad without losing the arm, huh.” He searched around the van, hoping to find a means of escaping the awkward situation without pulling any more attention to his little slip up. He decided to change the subject, his eyes meeting the fading stripes of Mystery’s head and jumping on the opportunity, “You know, we really need to re-dye him. He’s getting a little pink, don’t you think?”

She shifted just a little bit in the driver’s seat, knowing that he wasn’t telling her something, wishing that she had listened to him completely when he had nearly explained to her what had happened the night they came to the hospital, “Arthur, you know that if you ever need to talk, I’m here. I’ll understand.” He was looking into his lap to avoid catching her eye, his own downcast and hands still as he stopped testing his arm, “I don’t care what you did or how it happened, I’m here for you. Forever. You’re never getting rid of me, not now or ever.”

She could see him smirk just the slightest out of the corner of her reaching eyes, “Yeah, I know, I know. How about we grab a motel? I’m getting really tired, and I think my back is a little too sore for the van tonight. Are we near any towns?”

Vivi continued driving, a little sad that he wouldn’t share it with her tonight. She knew he would in due time and that whatever Arthur was hiding from her was for the best for both of them in any situation, “Just this next exit.” He’d never put his friends in danger, not in a million years.

She caught herself thinking this, surprise knitting her eyebrows as she pondered her own thinking, wondering if a memory was about to surface for the first time in a few months. Something flashed in her mind, trying to reach out, but the only thing that she accomplished was to correct herself. Arthur had only one friend, her. What had she been thinking about that had been so forcefully pushed to the back of her brain? Who had she been thinking about that she didn’t want to remember?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, school is starting tomorrow for me. As this will be the end of the Semester, I will be dealing with a lot of tests, quizzes, finals, and studying. Also, for my robotics team, we are heading into build season, which means I will have even less time! I imagine I will be able to write a lot during school, and with a new laptop, I can type and revise at school too, but chapters will be pumped out a little slower. I'll also have more time to think of my story, so that means the quality will probably increase, too! I hope.  
> I don't know what a reasonable prediction is, but I'll try to stick to every other day, maybe every two days. This would be a great time to give me some criticism, too, since I'll have a lot of time to think about it! Thanks again for reading as always, and lots of love for my lovelies!


	13. Something Old, Something Familiar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vivi believes that the three of them could take on the world together. Arthur knows they can't.  
> He doesn't know how to tell her that they are, in fact, very mortal, and that things like blood loss and falling can kill mortals fairly quickly. Still, he will follow Vivi to the ends of the earth if only to make his best friend happy, and that kind of loyalty has a price.  
> Is it time to pay up?

The van doors slammed with a jarring bang, caging the three who bounded inside with the safety of automatic locks and the protection of a metal exterior as a lick of explosive magic came chasing after them. With the cold, dry air surrounding their little safe haven, the sparks of electrical magic engulfed hungrily the fort they held so silently, searching for a weak spot, a tiny crack with which to infiltrate and annihilate, greedy hands of lightning gripping the windows and doors with determination. 

The three who had jumped inside breathed heavily within the freezing interior, their exhales creating fog upon the windows lit up so magnificently by the power outside. It must have been at least a minute before those reaching fingers began to recede into the forest with which they came, but to the ones who waited, it must have been hours. Their adrenaline filled the space of a second with the suffering of days, and while they could not hold their breath, it was no less terrifying to be hunted and pursued so violently. As the energy outside faltered in their pursuit, all three gave sighs of breath they didn't have, turning towards each other in a sort of relief and camaraderie that only nearly dying seems to bestow.

The boy lifted two hands to his face, eyes widening as he reassured himself that he was, in fact still alive. The dog, still panting heavily from the jog, had hidden himself at the feet of his owner on the passenger side, burying his face into her hands as he whined through his nose. The girl, on the other hand, had broken into a bout of laughter so strong and shaking, she could feel her sides split with joy and excitement.

“That was amazing! I would never have believed that fae-people could be so...so...”

“Murderous?” Arthur cried out, his voice cracking as he ran his good hand slowly through his amber hair, avoiding eye-contact as he stared straight ahead, “Aggressive? Violent? Cannibalistic? I could go on, you know, I just watched Tinkerbell devour her sisters, after all.”

Vivi stuck her tongue out towards her friend with a playful sense of fun, thinking her coworker and comrade was teasing, “It wasn't that bad, you big wuss. They were just playing around is all, they didn't know we couldn't handle massive explosions.”

Arthur was still very tense, his metal arm leaving a dent in the steering wheel as he spoke furiously through his teeth, “Vivi, we almost died, and you're laughing about it? This is why I don't let you choose our hunts! You always put us in bad situations, things we only narrowly get out of!”

He was hunched over, squinting into the distance as a fog began to settle around them. His tone of voice was grating on her nerves, and the usually laid-back disposition of Vivi found itself prickling with the heat of annoyance, her voice tainted with distaste and frustration, “Because all the jobs you choose are fake.”

Silence. He didn't respond to Vivi, and that in itself scared her more than any ghost investigation could. When Arthur was angry, he argued and spoke through his teeth as like a mouthy teenage boy just begging for a smack on the mouth; when he was furious, he replaced any noise with the subtle and disturbing lack of it, filling the van with that sort of disappointment you only get from a fuming father. He had fallen into the second option, every movement of his stiff body so slow and deliberate as he drove them along the barely lit, abandoned road. With every ounce of his being, Arthur had feared something more than death back there-she could feel it rolling off of her friend in angry waves.

Vivi hadn't been allowed to choose their hunt for a long time, usually letting Arthur persuade her into investigations they both knew were fake or not dangerous at all. It took her weeks to convince him to help banish the fae-folk she had been called about, and even then, she knew he only agreed to it because it looked harmless enough. No one ever would expect playful sprites of anything malicious, but the information she withheld from Arthur-a young girl with a broken leg whispering of a fairy princess and a teenage boy found dead and covered in pixie dust-lead her to suspect they were more than mischievous. She had been so excited to take a real job with a hint of adventure and mystery to it, she may have forgotten to mention how pissed off they get when you try and relocate them from their home in the woods, and how murderous some fairy sprites had been recorded as.

She remembered choosing all the haunts before Arthur and her ended up in the hospital, taking every caller and chatting with every client thoroughly; what had happened? It had been absolutely wonderful for Arthur's social anxiety to take all of their calls and talk through all of their jobs, but after two years, Vivi was starting to feel excluded from the business aspect of her team. Had she been the reason Arthur had lost his arm? Was it through one of the jobs she carelessly chose that they had ended up in that hospital?

With these questioning thoughts, she felt a shot of pain run through her head, and she leaned over with bile rising in her throat, her body suddenly racked by nausea. It hurt, but this was good: it meant she was remembering something, or at least trying to. Every time she had come close to memories of that night she had shied away at the last minute, feeling her head throb and her body weaken, but now she had the possibility presented in front of her and she was going to take it. There was a flash of pink across her mind, magenta across the blackness of her closed eyelids. She could nearly see it, the outline, the fog, even a little bit of color...

Mystery nosed his way further into her hands, poking his head out from her fingers and looking at her with eyes filled with a strange sense of command and sentience, as though he knew what she was trying to do. Somehow, her dog had comprehended her actions, and he did not want her to remember by the look of it; still, she couldn't unsee the picture that had appeared as a blur before her eyes.

The black cave, surrounded by thorns and billowing smoke.

Arthur looked down at her, head in hands and arms on knees as she tried to deal with the sickness that was overcoming her. A tinge of guilt edged onto his expression, and he reached his good hand out to cup her shoulder, “Geez, Viv, I didn't mean to upset you that much. Are you okay?” his eyes flicked between her and the road hurriedly, “I just can't handle hunts like that 'cause I know I can't handle losing you, too. We've given so much of us to this job, and I'm not ready to give our lives away.”

It was fairly quiet, the road being so small that only their car drove down it, slowing steadily as Arthur contemplated pulling over. Vivi seriously looked like she was about to hurl chunks, and he guessed the bumps in the poorly maintained street beneath them wasn't helping much. In reality, Vivi was just mulling over his words, letting them sit upon her mind as she reached down to pet Mystery rhythmically. Her shoulders were slouched down, slightly shying away from the touch of her friend as her back began to ache and her headache slowly cleared. Her mind was trying desperately to find meaning in his words, trying to remember what they had given Arthur's arm and Vivi's memory to so long ago, attempting to pinpoint the monster or ghoul or nightmare that had taken the most from both of them.

She was left only with that cave, the imprint of granite clear in her mind.

Vivi lifted up her head, emulating as pleasant a smile as she could at Arthur with her eyes closed pleasantly and bushy head steadied, letting go of Mystery to jump into the middle seat, “It's okay, Arty, I just got a bit of motion sickness, I ain't all that mad,” she reassured, opening her eyes just a crack to see Arthur's face, “but you're right, I should be more careful. I've always thought that, even if the world does us in, we've at least got each other-I guess I should focus more on not letting the world kill us off in the first place, huh?”

Arthur looked over at her bright face, feeling his own stone frown mimic her cloudy cheeks easily and eagerly with the forgiveness of a forgetful child. She cast a spell upon him with the lighting of her face, the glowing of her cheeks, and though only a few minutes ago he had been ready to explode on the girl in a mix of angry terror and horrifying what-ifs, now he was just happy to have her by his side. Lewis had been so hard to lose-he still thought constantly about him, even two years later-but if he had lost Vivi that night or any day after, Arthur would not have let himself live.

As he opened his toothy grin to reply with his own thoughts and feelings, he felt something shudder beneath him and within his van, his baby crying out to him in the tiniest of screeched and screams, bumping and sputtering along with what little effort it could give before beginning to slow. Something tragic hit his heart like an arrow, and Arthur dropped his eyes, along with Vivi's and Mystery's, to the dashboard past his metal fingers. On the other side of the little window, the lights and gauges blinked feebly with flashes of pink light, growing and decaying like a beating heart. As the car slowed to a jerky stop, all was silent.

Arthur, mouth dry and hands shaky, feared whatever words came out of his mouth, knowing deep down that whatever he said might not be audible through the shivering of his voice, “Did...did my ol' girl just bail on me?”

Vivi would have snickered if she wasn't touched by a hint of fear herself, pulling out her phone and flipping it forward to check for a signal, “We don't have any bars out here,” she looked at Arthur, her eyes accusatory as the dog and her watched him carefully, “didn't you just give her a tune-up less than a week ago?”

Arthur turned towards her, eyes guilty and smile tilted worriedly as he felt a bead of sweat roll across his forehead, “I may have, uh, skipped a few minor checks in order to go to the mall arcade with you. No big deal, right?”

If he hadn't been so damn cute, Vivi might've strangled her best friend to death. She looked out the front window and into the foggy and dark street ahead, her won side window nothing but black thorn, and then Arthur's, hoping to spot something-or someone-that might be able to help them out. Arthur himself was furiously attempting to restart the van, but every time his baby tried to hiccup into life, the weaker and feebler she became and the more distorted her engine sounded.

“Hey, there's a house down that driveway there. I'm sure I can get a phone call in there, maybe a ride into town if we're lucky enough. A jump start would be nice, too, but I don't see any cars-do we know what's up with her?” Vivi suggested, looking at her friend hopefully as he continued to rev the engine. He glanced out his window as she spoke to him, spotting the ominous house and double-taking the scene as he shook his head at her.

“Oh no, no, no. You are not going up there, uh-uh. We are staying put, maybe pushing the van further away from that...that...” A shiver ran through his body as he sized up the gothic mansion, glowing pink windows and all, trailing off as he continued to shake his head vigorously, “We can wait until another car passed and wave them down. We are not going anywhere near that.”

He hadn't noticed that Vivi had already jumped out of the car, Mystery following his owner loyally as she stepped onto the damp ground beneath their tires, “You don't have to go, Arty-Mystery will keep me company. You do what you can for our number one teammate, we'll get someone down here to help start her up.”

This lead Arthur to his big decision of the day: would he follow the lead of his friend into what he saw as certain death and the loss of everything he loved and held dear, or would he hide behind his cowardice as he watched the ones he loved march so bravely into the afterlife? There was no way that the house wasn't haunted-it glowed with the luminosity of a thousand flamboyantly colored suns-but there was no stopping Vivi now that she had laid her eyes upon it, and . Either they both left this world, or he lived with whatever consequence came afterward.

As his best friend hurried across the open road, it was clear to Arthur that he really didn't have any choice at all. If he was going to keep Vivi safe, give her any chance of survival, he couldn't hang in the van like he used to when there had been four of them. As fast as Arthur's legs could possibly run, he followed Vivi across the empty street and up the stone steps towards the most ominous house he had ever witnessed, the rock in his stomach weighing him down as he looked upon what would clearly change-or end-his life.

Their feet were resonant against the stairs beneath them, Vivi's heels clacking especially noisily upon the well-polished, beautifully constructed ground beneath them. Before they were even halfway up, he could feel the power radiating from the house in front of them, just like climbing waves upon the sea shore. With every new rush of water forward the blanket of ocean pulled itself further up the sand, just as the neon pinkness of the light within the house clawed and grabbed at them. The doors swung open as the power emanating from within reached a peak, spilling the light within in a flood of gushing water, nearly blinding as it reached out towards the curious eyes that beheld the spectacle within. Inside, Vivi swore she could here a distant humming, some sort of siren's song calling them forward promisingly.

All Vivi could think was how beautiful the mansion was.

“Okay, fuck this, I'm not doing this. Nope, not dying today, let's go.” Arthur began mumbling, turning around on his heels as he tried to hurry back towards the van and safety. Vivi must have anticipated the reaction of her friend as she shot a hand backwards, grabbing her best friend by the collar of his vest without ever taking her eyes off the magnificence that was the house I front of her, the mystery unfolding like an aged map upon a wooden table.

“No Arty, we're already this far, we might as well see it through.” Those words killed him, and she looked back with the same eager smile he remembered so clearly from before, giving his shirt a light tug when he didn't jump forward with enthusiasm like she was so ready to do, “Come one, we have a mystery to solve!”

Arthur didn't want to hear that, didn't want her to latch onto a commitment with this house, and he definitely didn't want her to feel as though she had a duty to explore the depths within fully and totally. Yet, here he was, and there she was, so immersed in the house in front of her that she didn't think one bit of the dangers that no doubt waited within to gobble them up and leave them in eternal despair. As Vivi gave the boy a strong pull forward and towards the opened double doors ahead, there wasn't much Arthur could do to resist-this was the life he had chosen, the life of Vivi, and in that way he was no more than a wayward slave to the whims of the blue girl. She pulled his little raft along, her light the tugboat that pulled him against the merciless currents of the river, and so he followed her so dutifully into the pink light ahead that was so blinding.

He closed his amber eyes to shield them from the brightness that met his gaze, but as they passed the threshold into a new world entirely, it disappeared from behind his lids. Still he kept his eyes shut tight, hoping that is he didn't look maybe it would all disappear, and the house in front of them would be nothing but normal after all. He heard someone singing, their voices muddled by some sort of interference-the walls, maybe, as though something were separating whatever ghostly choir had gathered in order to protect or shield the three who had entered from the ghastly melodies that rose into the dark hallways. There was a chill running in not from behind them and outside, but from much deeper inside the mansion, alluding to something much colder within; definitely a sign of some paranormal activity just waiting to happen or kill them or something horrible. 

“Arty, look.” Vivi whispered as she paused inside their new setting, absorbing the whole view with eyes wide open and mouth parted as she inhaled everything in, trying her best to completely engulf herself in every aspect of this wonderful, new place, “There’s nothing scary here, just...look.”

She had let go of his hand, and the frantic search for that little bit of connection with his only tie to safety forced him to spring his lids up like window shades. His protector had taken a few steps forward, her arms held close to her side as she wandered very slowly away, a balloon meant to wander the warm blue sky stuck in this house of dark purple and mystery. He lifted his metal arm up in a pre-flinch, preparing himself for whatever was to come before he knew entirely what was coming, 

“D-don’t wander too far, Viv. I need you back here in the ‘I have no clue what I’m doing’ squad.”

Her head turned briefly, and the smile that graced her lips was worth his current suffering, “You’ll be fine, just look around! This place...it feels so-”

There was a deafening crash, and everything became thick with darkness.

Just as the morning sky can be many hues of brightness, the dark of night can be thousands of shades of nothingness. in this mansion, there was a whole new species of black, an entirely different form of oily mystery that wrapped around those who wandered too far in, showing nothing but the whites of the eyes of the beholders. If Arthur had thought the starless sky had been intimidating, he had never truly been exposed to the intense lack of light that he met here, within the mansion of his nightmares.

And yet, Vivi found it soothing, as though she were being wrapped in a blanket and coddled. Her eyes blinked lightly as she slowly began to remember where she had encountered this place before, struggling as she always did to form a picture in her head with the little scraps of parchment she was given by the greedy protector of her locked away secrets. Now, all she could feel was emotion, the wonder of entering a new mystery and holding in her hands the knowledge and wisdom of the spirits within, of hearing them sing as they began now, of watching the candle flame flicker aimlessly with someone’s eyes boring adoring holes into the back of her neck, thinking she didn’t notice.

Who was the one who had stared at her so lovingly within this house of her memory?

There was a magenta light traveling slowly in front of her now, lead on by an invisible master as the singing from far away grew louder and more concentrated. It didn’t pause as it passed in front of the shocked faces of the three visitors, and with the gentleness of new fire, it lit the candles two by two. Patience at first gripped the eager wicks as they popped into the world, but with the expectation and anticipation of guests, they began to accelerate their own birth, jumping into the pinkness of life with the quickness of a foxtrot. The uniform flames bounced to the elaborate chandelier in the gorgeously adorned foyer, and with the force of fire bursting into its nurturing arms, the chandelier was pushed into the brightness of light.

Vivi nearly screamed in excitement and joy as every room was filled with the amazingly bright magenta light that danced so merrily in front of her widened eyes, but Arthur and Mystery weren’t so hot on the magical ghost candles. Arthur felt as though their was more to this haunted house than he could recall, that their being stalled wasn’t by some accident or coincidence and that something wanted them their, someone had called them to their home with the idea of blood on their mind. Mystery’s sixth sense only confirmed that, and his eyes were flitting about the house as he tried to determine the disturbance by smell and sight. This mansion was just a little too much for both the dog and the coward.

Out of the corner of their eyes they saw the paintings in the left hallway light up, their eyes boring curious holes into the intruders with the brightness and color of the candles in front of them. In the foyer, Vivi caught a glance of something pink approaching, the voices growing louder as their owners rose up from beneath the chandelier and into the open with the commanding grace of stage performers comfortable with their craft, moving animatedly from one room to the next without much more than a few syllables and the grace of swans gliding upon the water.

The phantoms ahead of them approached quickly then, appearing behind Vivi and Arthur and Mystery without much warning save for the continuous singing in their voices. If there were words, Vivi couldn’t make them out through the excitement that rendered her deaf-her smile spread from ear to ear in an open-mouthed, wide-eyed display of enchantment, as though she were a young child seeing Disneyworld for the first time. Her hands were lifted to her face as she whispered quietly to herself, taking in the situation and absorbing the scene with the hunger of someone who has forgotten everything. This experience, no matter how familiar, was a new thrill that she had never experienced in the time since her rebirth, and she wanted more.

The ghosts were mouthing a syllable, the soft ‘mo’ that was raised questioningly with the melody. Arthur still held himself mid flinch, ready to bolt as they rose up one by one in an arc around him and his team with an uncertain frown gracing his cheeks. Mystery too observed with caution, his red eyes raised as he lifted his nose to give the air a definitive sniff, inhaling the smell that wafted from the ghosts surrounding them and recognizing it immediately as he looked up at Vivi wit worry flitting in his eyes. Even the dog-in fact, especially the dog-knew that this was not a good place for the girl to be with her current lack of knowledge on their old friend.

As the performers ended the first act of their song, the eyes of the ghosts opened wide, and their mouths distorted as they screamed a shrill note at the three who gawked at them, curling their tiny fingers as they leaned forward and swayed dramatically. This was a little too much for the Mystery Skulls, and with living still on the list of their future plans, they bolted one by one away from the ghosts who had moments earlier been singing so beautifully for them, raising their voices into the darkness and quiet surrounding them and filling it with the melodies of love and the fear of hate. If Vivi hadn’t been so busy following Arthur, her mind chasing after him as he shouted a call forward, she may have noticed the gentle hands of the pink ghosts reaching out to grab her longingly with hands running through her hair and gripping her sweater, almost as if they wished to hold her back for themselves.

Their legs, filled with the energy of adrenaline, pumped rhythmically as they accelerated down the hallway Arthur had chosen, surrounded on all sides by the faces of paintings whose eyes moved to watch them diligently like sentries watching the shadows of the night in enemy territory. Suits of armor shifted uneasily under the weight of their metal cages with their heads turning just slightly to gaze at the ones who ran quickly past them, and ahead, Arthur could see the pink tail of one of the ghosts from earlier snake into the helmet of the suit as its eyes flared to life, animating the sluggish phantom into an angry demon. The arm of metal lifted its sword with a jerk forward, and Arthur could see what was going to happen before he really had time to react to the threat upon his life, certain that these thoughts of remorse would be his last.

His body was thrust forward as he felt a strong force meet his back, not quite a hand pushing him to the ground but more like two paws placed firmly on his shoulders as they lifted from the ground. Mystery himself had jumped with paws outstretched, pushing with all of his might to make sure his companion was able to duck in time to avoid the sword waiting for him in the echoing hallway. Vivi too was flung into the air, falling over the sword rather than beneath it as she rolled back onto the ground, landing sorely but safe. Again, if she hadn’t been so preoccupied with her Olympic’s sprint down the hallway, she would have no doubt noticed the hands of the ghosts lifting and throwing her into the air so that she might miss the sword and stay alive, but she was still too busy thinking her life was in danger to notice that the mansion was holding her in safe hands.

Mystery wasn’t so safe however, and as the stunned Vivi sat forward with a hand lifted beneath her chin and the sore Arthur rubbed his rug burns gingerly from their spots on the floor, they noticed that their dog was lacking a head but still moving about just as a chicken might as he prepared to become Sunday brunch. Vivi lifted her hand to cover her mouth as she began to mourn for her beloved pet and mascot while Arthur, who was too filled with terror to really do anything of use, merely flinched as he always did, but lucky for them Mystery seemed to have a second head which popped up to replace his lost one without any damage or gore. The two might have questioned something as crazy as this on any normal occasion, but there was still too much preparing to kill them for the three to take their eyes off of the mansion if even for a second.

They swung around as the portraits surrounding them began to sing, the same voices of the ghosts rising from the frames of finely dressed young men and woman. Unfortunately for the portraits, their three victims weren’t quite lined up in the position necessary to go through with their little stunt, and so again the ghosts of the mansion leapt forward to scream at the three intruders with wicked smiles and steady yet high vocals reaching into and echoing off of the walls.  
Arthur and Mystery jumped simultaneously into Vivi’s arms, gripping the girl for dear sweet life as the ghosts retreated back into their portraits, satisfied with their work. Vivi watched a string swing from the ceiling in front of a particularly fancy young woman, and it wasn’t too hard for her to infer what was coming as the gloved hand reached out to grab it from the confines of her frame. Her eyes glanced down, and Vivi found that there was nothing beneath her feet safe a wide open cavern that was surprisingly well lit but no less deep.

This was it, she thought, the day that she died was upon her. The three would fall to their death with nothing more than a scream and then silence to mark their leaving this world. Maybe, she thought, she should’ve listened to Arthur for once and stayed in the van to wait for a passing truck or two; instead, her little family was going to end up dead and it was all her fault. She didn’t want to die, but somehow she accepted it.

With that little cry of thought, Lewis woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for getting this one out so late, I accidentally deleted my blog and had to work double time to set it back up again. I'll try my hardest to get chapters in as consistently as I can, but it will be really hard for me with the little time I have.   
> Thanks for sticking with me. Robot build season is only 6 weeks, and we've gotten through one already. Just bear with me and I'll try my best, guys!


	14. Nearly Distant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In just a few short moments, Lewis has come close to a lot of things. Fading. Killing. Reuniting.  
> And yet he can't seem to reach the things that are so near to him, so dear to him. Before he can truly revel in the accomplishments he has planned out so painstakingly in front of him, they are so rudely taken away. All through his unlife, he has been relying on hope and chance.  
> But how can you rely faithfully on such fickle things when they always let you down?

Through the faded portrait and mirrors of the ghostly mansion he called home, Lewis could see everything within his little territory. Be it the Dead Beats humming their little tunes or a wayward fly come to say hello to the dark house, he viewed all like a king overlooking his castle with a sense of quiet pride and watchfulness, a duty to those who were dutiful to him. Though his view was limited to one portal at a time his view from each was more extensive than the average view of a human unless, of course, blocked by one of his singing caregivers. As he rose from slumber today, he glanced lazily through the portals like a dusty deck of cards, pausing to gaze through the eyes of a young lady in the main hall. His ghosts milled about in some sort of confusion with their song sung loud and proud through their tiny mouths; something a little different from what they usually proclaimed, but still familiar in tune.

What had risen him so quickly from his sleep like death? Even if he never ran out of energy due to lack of slumber, he did still enjoy the confines of his coffin enough to rest for hours upon end, often allowing himself the very human experience as a way to pass time along with comfort and ground himself. As he had dreamt the horrific dreams of a phantom in sleep, Lewis had felt in his heart a shot of fear run through his safe haven, his home. There was something amiss in the quiet and calm that he had isolated himself within, something very close to home.

And then he remembered, in a flash of light, the moment he had heard the song of the Dead Beats first and only.

Still within his coffin, Lewis lifted his hands to rub the smoothness of his skull. Once before had they ever repeated the song they sang now with such energy and excitement, only once before had they let their voices ring as clearly as they did now, only once before had his Dead Beats graced the gentle ears of the phantom with a song of honey grace. Back then, they had only hummed the syllable with the restraint of tiny gods, allowing it to drip from their comb lips but only just so. His little orange heart was beating with the rapidness of a scared bunny. Were they really, truly warning him of his beloved's arrival, or were they simply taking a casual and confused stroll down memory lane?

He let his eyes flash through the portals, across portraits and peepholes, searching frantically for a flash of blue among the light and dark purple surrounding him. With every bit of his glass heart he willed her to appear before him, the one he had waited his own eternity for glowing with a mystery as she gazed upon the mansion he had made for her as she was filled with stars and galaxies. He didn't even know how much time had gone by-would she look the same?-but he knew he had to find her, had to speak to her, had to tell her how he truly felt in order to truly feel at peace.

Instead of her bright blue eyes dotted with light and shivering lips muttering secrets, Lewis' eyes through the mirror found the noticeably bright orange of a reflective and puffy vest, mid-fall with arms held above his head and scream resounding through the deep cavern. He flashed by quickly, pitifully wailing and commanding all of Lewis' attention before the phantom could fully absorb the scene in front of him or notice the companions by the ginger's side. The expectations of love within his heart shattered at his feet, replaced with such an enveloping hatred that the young ghost felt his fists clench into tight balls.

 

_Bring him to me._

 

He could feel the Dead Beats jump eagerly upon his command, so few and far between that they eagerly attempted to serve. Stirring the air around them with control and focus they awakened from their wandering state with eyes wide open. The view from the mirror was willed away in disgust, no longer of use to the vengeful spirit holding his own within the intricate coffin, and Lewis closed his eyes thoughtfully. Had he merely imagined her presence within the home he watched so closely? Since awakening from the oil-thick darkness with which he fell into after death, he had fantasized about both holding Vivi to his beating glass heart and strangling Arthur between his plated hands, but it was clear to him in every sense which one he desired the most: before he was a creature of hate, he had once been an angel of love.

Lewis had been lonely in this state of solitude. The Dead Beats were very good at caring for his every need, but you couldn't play Smash Bros. or talk about your feelings with bedsheets. Much of Lewis' afterlife had been spent cooking mindlessly to maintain his culinary abilities, but without the ability to digest or enjoy food as he once had he grew tired of his endless refrigerator. The time he spent away from the stove he felt was best used within his mind, and with only his thoughts he had let many days pass by with no more than a sideways glance. All that time, the entirety of two years, had been spent visualizing the reunion of his beloved and the murder of the one who had so suddenly taken him from her. With his eyes still closed, Lewis willed his coffin slowly open.

His room spread out before him as he lifted his head and opened his eyes, glancing only briefly at Arthur as he felt his heart of hearts question his dire thoughts. A hand lifted to protectively cup the beating orange symbol between his fingers with the timidity of a shy lover. He had seen this exact moment play out before him so many times before this, he could practically recite every speech he had ever pondered without pause or thought; now, with her still on his mind, he had to question the actions he felt his body so quickly rise to perform.

How would she feel? Arthur had been her best friend many years before she even knew of Lewis' existence: they had shared everything together and experienced so many ups and downs. If he went through with this and killed Arthur, there was the possibility that Vivi would not only grow immensely depressed with the loss of her best friend, but that, upon discovering Lewis' treachery, she would downright abandon him without second thought. Everything about the girl screamed loyalty and fairness, and in every action he had seen before his demise she had proven to Lewis that she was as devoted to her friends as a guard dog. He began to second guess his decision, wondering whether he should spare the life of the one who ended his to keep a smile upon the face of the one he loved so dearly.

The flames of betrayal wrapped around him once more, pushing away any thoughts of doubt that crept into the thoughtful folds of his undead brain. His brow knitted angrily before he turned smoothly back to the animal in front of him, the worm with which he would crush beneath his heels. Before him was a monster, the reason he was so alone in the middle of the woods, the one who had banished him without sentence from a life filled with light to one made entirely of pain.

It didn't matter. Arthur would die, and Lewis would finally find his peace.

He floated down from his coffin, lifting himself into the air with the grace of a floating ballerina upon a darkened stage. His hollowed eyes bore holes into the sockets of the man in front of him, his ginger head lifting as he noticed the phantom in front of him approach without noise but brimming with presence. Nothing in Arthur's surprised expression denoted even a droplet of recognition, but Lewis didn't seem to care as his feet clacked nearly noiselessly on the thin rug covering the wooden floor below. Any pain he had once felt had been replaced by an icy-hot betrayal, and all Lewis wanted was revenge.

"Glad you could drop in, Arthur. I've been dying to see you, you know." his voice roamed through the room, bouncing off of the walls menacingly and echoing throughout the halls and past the unlit candles loudly. After years of neglect, the resounding speech of the phantom had grown distorted and was in itself a cavernous cry, hardly audible as it repeated upon itself, layered with backward feedback and ominous with its inhuman tones. If Lewis had ever been human, the evidence had been left behind upon a sharpened stalagmite in a cave beneath the mansion.

Arthur was shaking, his eyes growing wider and wider as he attempted to speak back, "M-me? You got the wrong idea, skele-head. I've, uh, never seen you in my life b-before. Nope. Never."

Lewis could feel his emotions flare with Arthur's gasoline, climbing higher into the room as the skeleton seemed to swell into life. His victim had frozen in the stare of the enemy, clearly terrified as the ghost inhaled deeply with words beating upon his skull. It took all of his control to keep from jumping the gun and outright slaughtering the weasel here and now, "Oh, you don't remember me? I did take quite the plunge for you. It's such a shame you can't recall."

His prey was smiling guiltily now. Everything about him was clueless, and Lewis had to wonder whether he truly remembered his former team mate or if he was just trying to appear ignorant in some hope that he would survive the encounter by denying the truth laid out in front of him, "See, I've hunted so many ghosts in my lifetime, I'm sure I've just, uh, slipped your name or something. I should really get going, you know, I have a...uh..."

Lewis snickered, pouting as best he could with only his voice and eyes to express his fabricated sadness and sympathy for the trembling coward sitting so vulnerably in front of him, "I guess it's hard to remember everyone when time flies so fast, and you don't seem too sharp. Too bad I didn't fly when you pushed me to my death." Lewis lifted his hand as his voice filled the room even more, swelling and bursting as his finger pointed forward and directly at the man who denied him so vehemently. Lewis had watched him with a memory so clear, smile wicked and arm outstretched with the greenness and wickedness of jealousy as he fell from the cliff and toward the reaching stalagmites below. Arthur would pay for his actions.

"No, look, you got the wrong guy, I would never-"

"You still feign ignorance, must I sharpen you up? I hate this death, I hate this loneliness, but you..." Lewis lowered his head and eyes with rage, still maintaining eye contact as his finger continued to point at the destroyer of his dreams, "Fuck, it's you I hate the most."

Arthur lifted his metallic hand to point directly at himself, not taking his enormous eyes off of the one who threatened him with such abhorrence as sweat jumped quickly to run down his brow. Lewis, eyes now closed but presence felt in its entirety, felt all the unused energy of the years he spent wasting away fill his hollow bones, rising and crackling as the saucers upon Arthur's face kept growing in size. Tension sparked in the air around them, popping almost exclusively from Lewis' side of the room and sending embers to fly between the eyes of the murderer and the vengeful spirit that had waited so long to confront him. There was nothing in Lewis' life that had been so thrilling, so exhilarating as the sight of his betrayer between his mighty claws, and yet without remembrance upon his face something was lost; if the guilty felt himself innocent, the execution was no more than manslaughter. Did he seriously not remember the companion he had killed in cold blood, the friend he had left to fall to a gruesome death beneath his feet? No, the coward had to have remembered...

Maybe he just needed a little reminder.

"So you don't remember, you claim. How about I give you a little push in the right direction?"

His eyes jumped open, no longer hollow but filled with a circle of white-pink light in each socket as his voice began to grow silent with vile. Arthur gulped as he anticipated what was to come, watching with hyper-awareness as the bone-plated gloves of the phantom before him clenched tightly. A creeping venom was absorbing the voice of the mansion's spirit and enveloping the room, commanding an unknown force into willful action, crying out to the powers that stood guard to give heed to the master of the house. Just as the coward had seen in the main hall with candles only a fraction of the size, the four large torches surrounding Lewis began to burst into life one by one, burning him up with magenta light and gripping the scene with terrifying ambiance. Lewis lifted his head defiantly, challenging Arthur's memory with a simple swish of air and phantasmic power.

His skeletal head was engulfed in its own flame as a bright pink pompadour found safety above his brow. Arthur's confusion was filled with the remorse of remembrance and recognition.

"Do you remember me now, Arthur? Or did you truly think I disappeared for good? I have waited my own eternity to watch you suffer and die by my hand. Tonight, my dreams will finally become reality."

 

 

“Ouch. Okay, that wasn’t very pleasant, but at least we’re alive.”

After falling for what had seemed like an eternity, Vivi and Mystery had fallen hard upon the old and faded tile floor, landing with their cheeks to the cold and sleek ground beneath and heads still stuck in the cavern above. While falling, neither had seen a way to escape the inevitable death that rose up to meet them, but as Arthur dropped into the abyss beneath them and the two were met by hard ground to absorb their infinite fall, things were starting to look up. Here they were, alive and without injury save for a few bumps.

The dog, clearly unphased by what had just been a plunge into the pit of eternity, was sniffing the air warily. He was sidetracked by something smelly surrounding them, beckoning to the little black button on his snout with the aroma of something familiar just as the entire house had felt. The girl tussled the ocean atop her head, windblown and unruly as it roared against her taming hands before they fell to gingerly rub the cramps and bruises screaming from her mid back, hoping they weren’t anything worse. She was more than happy to be back on solid ground, but her body really wished she had landed somewhere softer or less painful, like a bouncy house or ball pit instead of the rock hard ground her back had so violently made contact with, “Where are we, anyway? This is still the same mansion I think, but I wouldn’t have thought it would have an underground so deep down. Is that even possible, or is this just some kind of ghosty magic? And most of all, where’s Arthur?”

Mystery wasn’t listening very well, his nose leading him away from the mumbling girl and towards the counters where a few dirty rags, misplaced and somewhat odd looking compared to the beautifully clean kitchen around it, were waving to him from over the side of the marble. Only when she was alone with her dog did Vivi speak her pondering words louder than an inaudible whisper, knowing he’d never repeat the sidetracked and somewhat idiotic thoughts she muttered when excited. She herself was pacing around the open space, eyes flicking back and forth through the room in an attempt to absorb the memory as it rolled out in front of her.

It was clearly a kitchen, the tiles beneath her feet gray and faded white and the fridge like pearly snow while the cupboards contrasted with their boasting red wood, rising gracefully from the wall. The counters were a smooth marble, sleek as the floor beneath if a little faded from time and use, and by the looks of the appliances and enormous space granted to what is usually a small room, Vivi guessed that whoever called this place home was more than serious about the culinary arts. Almost as a branding, a little skeleton head hardly and darker or sleeker than the fridge itself was imprinted into the metal, and though the walls were still purple stripes everywhere else, the wallpaper between the counter and cupboards was a tiled gray like the ground beneath her feet. Save for the dirty rags, everything in the room was immaculate, and nothing denoted any form of paranormal activity to Vivi’s disappointment.

Mystery gave one last sniff to the rag before it fell to the ground, landing with a soft ‘plop’. He couldn’t seem to find a trail, and so he left behind his dead end to investigate on his own for a little while. Vivi was brought back to attention as the dog nosed his way into the fridge, giving in to his canine instincts and searching for the food that beckoned from inside the shiny container. Her first thought was to scold him or pull him away, unsure of what they might find inside-who knew what ghosts eat?-but as she peeked around him, she found the refrigerator overflowing with what she assumed was totally normal, edible food. Everything from lunch meats to asparagus, cheese and steak, milk and some sort of weird purple fruit called to her from inside the cold fridge.

She couldn’t help herself either.

“You know, maybe we shouldn’t eat the ghost food. I mean, this doesn’t sound very responsible or safe, and it’s probably against some ancient unspoken rule in the ghost investigation community. Not to mention we totally ruined this gorgeous kitchen.” she tried to persuade herself, but as she spoke her eyes never left the king of all sandwiches that rested in her hands. Vivi could feel herself begin to drool.

There was a pause as she waited for the dog to confirm her fears, taking a moment to glance at his equally obsessed face. As the seconds passed, she shrugged her shoulders with hardly a second thought and no more mind to the matter, looking back at the sandwich with greedy eyes.

“You’re right, I shouldn’t think about it. We must live for the moment! Not to mention the food replenishes immediately. I don’t think anyone would care. Bon appetit?”

Both opened their mouths wide to inhale the meal in front of them, absolutely starving after over a day without any sustenance of any sort and thinking only of the plates piled high in front of them. It was unreasonable to assume that they could actually eat it all, but hunger makes the stomach greedy and without Arthur to warn them against the number of problems with their actions, they were more than eager to absorb the landmass in front of them.

She thought she heard something from in front of her, something loud and quickly approaching. There was some sort of pounding and possibly screaming, but Vivi was too close to this sandwich to care; her eyes were closed as she anticipated ecstasy with the knowledge that this was going to be the best mega-sandwich ever. She could taste it now, the music upon her taste buds whirling a daring dance between her teeth and down her throat. It was a slow motion movie scene to her, nothing but silence and a gradually closing rift separating her from her true love and savior of her stomach. Just a little more...

Something flew past her, nearly knocking the girl and sandwich aside as it pushed through the kitchen in some sort of frantic hurry. Her eyes whipped open, leaving her beloved to glance back at the orange blur that ran so quickly and frantically past her and into the hallway behind the kitchen. It wasn’t too hard to guess who the blob of cowardly orange might be, but what was Arthur running so furiously from when his best friend, someone he knew could and would protect him, was right in front of him? She could hear a low growl coming from Mystery in front of her, and when she turned back to look at the dog and her sandwich, she was met by Arthur’s towering reason for fear.

Barreling forward lightly on his floating, fire-clad feet and glaring after the ginger with hatred lighting his white-hot, pink eyes, a terrible skeleton-phantom was fast approaching with his hands lifted menacingly and arms reaching forward

Vivi’s only thoughts were for her friend.

She dropped the sandwich without a second glance as she turned on her heels and chased Arthur with worry giving her feet speed. Her voice cried out his name loudly and with worry tingeing the edges as she began searching the hallway for some way to escape and keep them both safe, but the pounding of her heart was much too loud for her trembling thoughts, and so she sprinted entirely on faith in her instincts. Mystery was hot on her heels, paws pounding beside her as they kept pace but never surpassed her own in a show of loyalty. They stayed in front of the ghost behind them, but only barely, and as Vivi was struck by confusion and worried her dog stared straight ahead with determination pulling them both forward.

Arthur was slowing down a bit, his eyes meeting and shying away from the singing pink spirits from earlier as they poked their heads out of the doors lining the hallway before them. Vivi could feel deep down that they were the safe ones, that though they meant to spook they never meant to harm the three intruders, and that all in all they were much less dangerous than the raging ghoul behind them. Without losing pace, she grabbed her friend by his good arm to pull him past the humming of the choir that followed their steady progress, “Come on, Arthur, we need to get out of here!”

She pulled him into one of the rooms unoccupied by the ghosts, feeling her body leap forward as she stepped out and back into the hallway, four doors down from where they originally entered. Her mind immediately made the connection-she had watched enough episodes of Scooby Doo to remember the famous and overused chase scene, and as the skele-ghost came running in behind them, she pushed through another door across the hallway without slowing pace. Her voice called back for the team to split up despite the urge not to, hoping that the ghost would leave or become confused if they weren’t all grouped together like they were now. It would be harder to keep track of three running mice rather than one big rat.

As they disconnected from each other, Vivi could see the phantom grow just the slightest bit disoriented. All three came through different doors at different times, but he only paused briefly before continuing to follow Arthur with a new determination filling his eyes-maybe that hadn’t been the best idea.

The pace quickened as each began to grow frantic in their steps, and though she was more than out of breath she continued to run with the ghost appearing closer and closer to her and her friends. There was something new in her heat, and though she had never feared a ghost investigation before in her life, there was something different from her usual wonder and excitement filling her body. She could only imagine that, this time around, she truly feared the outcome of this hunt and the effect it might have on her friends.

They had been working their way quickly down the hall, ending up closer and closer to the end with every jump. By some stroke of luck or chance, the three ended up regrouping just as the ghost appeared before them in a flurry of sparking flames and angry fire. He pushed open the door, facing Arthur directly with Vivi and Mystery hidden behind him as their host rose up to intimidating heights with hands lifted. His henchmen, still singing so lightly and with voices trembling slightly, cried out in their high-pitched crescendos as the dark shadow emerged from the darkness and continued to rise further above them, hearts in throats as they turned tail and ran back the way they came. They continued through the maze with dizzying speed, and it wasn’t until they reached the end of the hallway that they finally made use of the door out, entering into a new hallway framed with portraits that none of them took time to gawk at.

Mystery, panting heavily, was left behind as something caught his eye in one of the portrait, and with a little yelp Vivi looked back with the intention of scooping her pet into her arms before he was consumed by the foot flames of the ghoul. To her surprise, the master of the house did not even glance to the dog at his feet with his eyes so steadily rested on Arthur, continuing after the coward with increasing speed. She caught a bit of a better glance of the predator while still running, his fiery hair glowing pink and his suit finely made and ironed, as though he had been expecting and anticipating this moment. Who was he, why did he hate Arthur so much, and why did he feel so familiar to her?

She fell on a bump in the rug, the ghost passing over her much like he had her dog as he made his way quickly towards her best friend. There was no mercy in the angrily knit eyes of the vengeful spirit, and something in this chase didn’t feel right or fair. Only once had she ever witnessed a spirit so determined, and that was when they had locked onto their murderer with plans of revenge and, in the end, death. She knew, for a fact, that Arthur had never and would never kill a person, so why did their pursuer hate him so? Though her body screamed at her to burst back into a frantic run, Vivi took a few moments to observe the scene taking place in front of her with curiosity giving her faith in her friend’s life. Even after standing back up with her back once again complaining painfully, she only walked very slowly towards the two as they confronted each other, met with a dead end as the wall stopped.

“You can’t run forever, Arthur! You know your fate is definite, you know what you did, and you know how you will end: by my hand. Give up the ghost, there’s nowhere you can turn in your final moments.”

Arthur was rising against the wall behind him, pushing his body as far as it would go against the wallpaper. His hands and arms lifted along with his chin, pulling his head up and away from the ghoul before him without ever taking his eyes off of the glowing circles that bore holes through his skull. He was crying out in fear in pain, anticipating the horror to come. The ghost was picking up speed now, barreling towards Arthur with his intentions more than clear, the flames he planned to push upon his enemy rising from his feet and towards his hands like tamed lions roaring on command. In no way had Vivi fully absorbed what was happening, and it wasn’t until she was sprinting once more that she realized that her body and mind had finally agreed on one thing.

“Stop it, now!”

She had leapt forward, arms thrown back like wings and her face turned, grimacing, to the side and away from the ghost in front of her. Every inch of her body was ready to take the flames for her best friend, prepared to throw her life away in an act of divine sacrifice for the one she had saved all those years ago as children. If the phantom before her wished to harm Arthur, he must break through the angel he had attracted and kept. It had been the last possible moment for her to act, the flames rising higher and higher as they prepared to launch towards the ginger without mercy, but something was holding them back now. Knowing that she was giving up her life for her only friend, knowing that he would live even if she didn’t, was more than enough to give her closure and peace. Vivi instead of Arthur had given up the ghost, and all that was left for her was whatever pain came with burning alive.

“...Vivi?”

She opened her eyes slightly, not finding flames to cradle her corpse as her eyes opened but the retreating ghost before her. He had pulled back from his attack upon Arthur, his flames dispersing into the air around them as he blinked in confusion and worry, thoughts of what could have happened tearing his beating heart apart. What had once been a flare of impatient determination and hatred was replaced with something resembling a question, a beautiful yet unsatisfying sort of punctuation instead of the release she thought to be death as his revering eyes wondered why she would throw herself so quickly into death yet tinged with a touch of relief that he hadn’t harmed her, hadn’t brought the girl to her death. Her eyebrows raised in confusion as he landed lightly and without a sound onto the rug beneath their feet and began to approach, but the pounding of her heart was not of fear or fatigue but that of recognizing something dear to her as though he were something she knew, someone she had anticipated or even hoped for.

She heard him say something so softly, heard him speak in a low voice tinged with the paranormal noises so well known by any ghost investigator and crackling with the very human portrayal of anxiety and pain. She didn’t understand his words, though, and she didn’t absorb the proclamation in his words. Everything about him was so familiar, something dear to her sending a shot of pain through the heart so deep in her chest rather than the brain that often cried at her to forget. Every instinct in her body screamed that she was safe, that he was trustworthy, but as she felt Arthur reach forward with a trembling hand to grab her shoulder she remembered the unspeakable act that had nearly cost her the life of someone closer to her than a faded and broken memory.

Still, she felt some sort of pull toward the phantom before her, a red string of fate pulling her closer with every beat of his heart. He floated slowly towards her, and as they were connected that beating heart began to extend from its place near his chest, protected by rib and fabric. The ghost was quiet now, no longer trying to speak to her without the words to completely convey his surprise, his pain, his longing. Her hands had dropped to her side as she felt the tension disappear between her friend and her memory, the ghost no longer caring about his target and focusing only on her as his heart floated towards her. His eyes were soft and gentle as he stared deeply into her soul through the only windows she had, her own forgetful eyes. She broke away from his gaze by instinct to look at the beating orange symbol of life approaching her steadily, and her usually chattering mind fell completely and utterly into silence.

Her hands lifted up to cup the heart, pulling it even closer towards her chest as the ghost watched calmly, unmoving now as his life was transferred from his care to her own palms. Her fingers hovered like shy moths attracted to the rays of glowing light, feeling her own heart try to jump towards the ghoul through her throat. She could feel a certain heat radiating from the energy between her digits, waves of brilliance as though the sun were being held hostage in the cage of her fingers, nearly burning the skin on her hands with its intensity and vigor and forcing her to keep somewhat of a distance. It looked as though it were glass, so fragile and thin as it began to slow in front of her. She began to feel a tug of memories pulling at her tired and nearly restored brain, no longer a headache as she saw a shadow appear in the front of her mind, the ghost of a person phasing right there before her…

She yelped a little as she was quickly jerked aside, someone grabbing onto her arm and holding tight before she could reach the heart growing so near to her own, before she could fully and truly hold it in her hands and remember completely what was hidden so deeply within her mind. She looked quickly at her captor, a sprinting and screaming Arthur, before glancing back at the answer to her million questions, the holder and guardian of her lost memories. There was the one person who could truly tell her the full story concerning the life she didn’t remember, the memories lost and protected by lock and chain, falling into the background and growing smaller with every footstep. Her hand lifted to reach back towards him as though she could still grab the heart left suspended in the air, still make it to him in time if only she reached far enough.

And his eyes, so sad and filled with anguish and regret. He too reached for his dreams as they were pulled away from him for a second time, the sands of fate rushing through his fingers leaving only grains of mourning and grief, watching everything he had ever waited for disappearing into the hallways he had constructed for her. These halls of hell he called home, these mazes of anguish, crowded with loneliness and lost chances as they danced so prettily yet left him to stand on the sidelines. It didn’t even occur to him, so immersed in her fading figure, that he was leaving something very important to hang without tether in the air in front of him, his entire being held aloft by nothing more than the imprints of her reaching hands. With his own arm grabbing for her still, his beating orange heart fell to the floor, and all was silent save the echoing boom of glass shattering upon wood like a gong.

Blue is the color of sorrow, blue is the color of regret, and blue is the color of Vivi. Now, blue is the color of his heart upon the unforgiving ground, cracks running along the surface like rivers of tears against his cheekbones as it gave one last sigh of life and allowed the living fire to escape from its container. He lowered his eyes, feeling the realest pain he had ever experienced in his unlife before falling totally and utterly hollow, just as his locket had in front of him. All of his life had been contained in that tiny bit of glass, and as it faded to nothing more than an empty shell so did he.

The Dead Beats were meant to protect him, keep him safe, tend to his each and every need with their songs keeping his heart beating in time; now, with the quickness of flustered nurses, they hurried to keep their patient alive. He fell under the control of the powers within the house, losing himself to the pink light that absorbed his soul and kept him floating along in the darkness without fading. The pain he felt was only very temporary, and as he felt the urge to act upon his debilitating sadness, his caretakers took matters-and his mind and body-into their own hands. Eyes stained the same pink as their bedsheet bodies, Lewis was plunged into that oil-thick darkness once again by the will of his ghosts.

Vivi, Arthur, and Mystery, on the other hand, had been marked as threats. As dutiful as ever and only with their master’s well being in mind, the Mystery Skulls felt the fire they had all so narrowly avoided burst behind them from the currently possessed Lewis With flames licking at their heels, the mansion gave them an exit, and without second thought the three had left their nightmare behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finals will be over midweek, and I believe I have one non-robotics day to work on this! I am sorry to get my chapters to you so late, lovelies, but I made it extra long just for you.  
> I should probably start looking into shortening these things, they just keep getting longer and longer.  
> Once finals are over I should be good to go. I finally got my laptop case, and it's big enough to carry my stuff WHICH MEANS I can start writing at school on something other than lined paper. Typing is a lot faster, and though it isn't as inconspicuous it sure does help to have even a little bit of time.  
> So that wraps up the music video portion of the story. Everything from here on will be original, not just a retelling. Hope you have enjoyed reading so far, and hope you continue to enjoy reading in the future! Thanks again!


	15. White Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you lose everything you fade.  
> Lewis is fading. He lost his life, he lost his team, he lost his chance at revenge, and now he has lost Vivi. His body is ready to move on even if his conscious is not, and he can feel his hands grow weak.  
> Arthur is fading. When you must lie to the person you love the most and watch it tear them apart, even the knowledge that the truth will kill them isn't enough to keep your sense of duty stronger than your sense of loyalty. He can't hide this from her anymore, and yet he can't afford to lose her, too.  
> Vivi is fading. She doesn't know what to believe anymore, and when the person you trust the most shows no faith in you, it is hard to wake up without bitterness and lead upon your tongue. She knows him, she loves him, and yet she cannot remember the words so close to her tongue.

He had lost control.

Lewis had lost control of himself, and now she’d never be coming back.

He was watching her fade away from him so fast and with such quickness, his eyes dull once more and lacking their light as they followed the van through the darkness on their way to their next motel, their next adventure, somewhere far away from where he was to never again look back upon their former team mate. He knew he’d always be looking back from this day until he truly faded from her realm, looking back and regretting his rash and childish actions and wondering if it could have ended differently for him and the girl dressed up like the sky, wondering if he could have been holding his ocean in his arms right now with her living breath warm against his empty chest and his fingers knotted so lively in her hair, never leaving her morning curls with the bone plates catching on the rivers running from her head. He wondered if, just maybe, they could have gone back to life the way it as or started a new one on their own, truly lived even if he would never be the same.

That wasn’t possible now. She was gone forever, and there was nothing more he could do.

His eyes lowered and his plated hands lifted, holding between the bone digits the heart that only moments before had been animated with the beating and fullness of life and hope, fire and passion. Now, he was no more than a husk thrown aside by careless fingers, an empty glass with too many cracks to hold slowly running water let alone fickle flame. With his lifeline gone flat and his tether wavering and fraying, Lewis felt himself growing faint and somewhat dizzy. If he had a truly beating heart at that moment, it might have fluttered like a baby bird within his chest as he felt himself beginning to fade away.

His hand twitched lightly, gripping the locket harder for only a second before allowing it to swing satisfyingly open to pour the light from his inner core and true self outward in a wave, the brightness only truly tangible to him within his dark room and even darker, brooding heart. She was smiling so happily from within, her joy that of the entire world as it rested within her hands and upon her face as her fingers gripped his without shy restraint or further thought, only unbridled and free roaming cheer. The eyes of his former self, so purple and bright with the blessings of light, gazed only upon her pale face with gentle wrinkles shaping the sides and adoration evident in their shining proclamation. Even in death, some things never change.

She had been so close, no longer a dream or a memory but the screaming reality come to break his heart for a second time within the halls of his home. He had been so close to seeing that smile curling her cheeks and squinting her eyes, so close to cupping her face in his deathly hands and feeling her warm skin so lively as it blushed a shy crimson, so close to telling her in his hushed tones what he had never had the nerve to tell her when he truly had the breath. He had fallen once so painfully to the hands of a loved one, finding himself powerless as his arms reached in vain towards the one he named more than an ally or travel companion, but a friend and a teammate. The second time, he had been pushed into the infinity of despair with his arms still reaching in a futile attempt to catch himself and finding hers reaching too, finding their hearts and hands separated as he cried out for his best friend, his family, and his beloved.

A tear streaked down his bony face, startling him in its warmth and livelihood as he lifted a timid hand to brush it aside and away as he felt himself shiver with the release of tension, the release of emotion through his numb body. He was growing even more emotional, and as his hand neared his face, he noticed its pinkness, no longer black and bone-plated but nearly living if a little faded and shaking. This was it, then? Was he going to fade into the next life not as a phantom but as the ghost of who he truly had been in a life he had left behind and who had in turn abandoned him, the life that had left him forgotten? If anything were going to save him, if he was going to stay in the land of the living for any longer than a few more torturous hours, something had to happen fast to tether him back into this world.

Be it sorrow or an attempt to conserve what little energy he had left within his frail body, Lewis let the mansion he had made so thoughtfully for Vivi fade into the nothingness he had been born from. He couldn’t stand to look at it anymore, couldn’t stand the reminder that she wasn’t with him right now and that she never would be, forever out of his reach if forever within his mind. If these were his last moments, he decided they were best spent in whatever remnants of false peace he could manage.

 

 

Her hands were pressed numbly against the large cold window in the back of the van, breath fogging the structure chill as ice and leaving clouds of mist in pulses as she inhaled and exhaled rhythmically, the translucent surface obscuring her glassy view. All the way back down the road they came, the black thorns of the crooked forest curled around the house fluidly and very much alive as the mansion decayed, and with a little sigh like death she watched the shadow of her mind fade into nothingness, becoming no more than a muddy imprint upon the swamp within her mind and a flicker of lost hope. As it disappeared, the little, beating heart inside her chest gave a flutter of worried and sorrowful goodbye, and she had to pull her hand gently to her breast to stop the tears from filling her stinging eyes.

That ghost had chased Arthur through a mansion of immense size, height, and mystery, the look in his eyes screaming nothing short of blood vengeance and merciless justice stained by hatred, maybe even betrayal. He had threatened without word or breath the only person she truly felt a connection with, the only person she could call her best friend and brother, someone she was willing to take a bullet-even die-for in every sense of the term...and yet, such fondness gripped her with vines of remembrance when he stopped before her, such wonder filled her beating heart like helium as his eyes locked onto hers with the searchings of the soul, and just thinking about the way her stomach filled with laughing air and effortless lightness as his heart offered itself to her, so trusting and full of love and locked secrets. She knew him, she had been so close to a tangible memory. She knew him and she had loved him, maybe even as much as she loved Arthur.

That little tug of swelling frustration began to burrow into her unruly brain, anger that she couldn’t remember filling her limbs. The spirit of the mansion within the black, curling thorns...he had been someone close to her, someone who had kept her wholly safe in times of fear and terror beyond current recollection, this she knew with certainty. He was someone who could and had once filled the tiny void within her still beating heart, and yet without any hint of recognition she couldn’t paint a picture, couldn’t hear his voice, couldn’t see the phantom of her angelic heart for what he truly had once been. Her sorrow, biting with raised hackles against the frustration of earlier, was chased out entirely by his big brother discontent, no longer snarling but screaming as it berated Vivi for her inactions and inabilities. In bitter reply, she felt her nails dig deeply into the palms of her hands, and she turned quickly to Arthur with a burst of daring and a desire beyond anything.

“Arthur, who was he?”

As she studied the events of the night over and over in her head with careful accuracy and attention to every little detail, she saw her best friend’s face not just that of fear and terror as it almost always had been in these situations. No, much more had been evident in the curving of his eyebrows, the speed of his motion, the moments of silence and reflection as her best friend faced what could have and should have been his death; Vivi had seen recognition in the sinking of his eyes, she had seen guilt in the pleading of his deep cheeks, she could see regret in the screams that painted the purple hallways blood red. There was once a time where he never lied to her, never kept a secret and physically couldn’t as excitement and the thrill of revelation possessed his body, but there was more to this mystery than just a coward and an angry ghost. Too many shadows had accumulated between her and her best friend, and how can you truly trust someone when they don’t bestow trust upon you?

Arthur didn’t acknowledge hearing her question let alone understand, not even turning back or flinching as she waited for some form of reply, be it vocal or physical. His metal hand, always a lot stronger than his right, gripped the steering wheel harder and harder with each passing second and left dents in the pliable and soft black crevices and dips in the fabric. He was guilty now, she could feel it as though it were a strong pulse rolling off of him, growing in intensity as he kept his eyes on the road and head from turning to even look at her. This only furthered her intuitive suspicion, and she could feel her usually calm head growing light with some form of angry betrayal, something akin to a stab in the back. This wasn’t right, her not knowing so much about herself and their past. Why did he continue to lie to her, keep something so important from her, if he truly valued their friendship?

She heard a muffled noise from the front seat, a little murmur or crackle in his voice as though he was trying his very best to control himself and nearly losing to the temptation of honesty and truthfulness. Mystery looked up at him with eyes flashing a glinting red, his gaze stern and commanding as he let off the tiniest of growls as a warning to the ginger-headed boy-did her dog seriously know more about this mystery than she did? Even the thought of being left so in the dark gave her a flare of agitated air, and as cruel courage gave her voice a resonance she felt herself fall into an emotion she hated more than the death that came with silence.

“God damn it, Arthur, talk to me! Who was the ghost who wanted your head on a stick, why did he feel so...so safe to me, but most of all,” she took a gulping breath, her eyes landing precisely on her friend as her voice cracked with a fury unknown to her mild temper, “what happened the night you lost your arm? What happened the night I lost my memory? What happened, and what does it have to do with him?”

Silence.

She could feel her outburst fading and her control coming back gradually like shy mice to an outstretched bread crumb, but with this awareness and control came the crying of guilt in the back of her mind, the regret of actions so dire and quick she couldn’t quite think them through with tact. Arthur was hunched over the steering wheel as though he had collapsed from the impact of her words and accusations, his shoulders shaking and exhaustion driving the boy to bitter tears and memories only fueling his fear of the dark of the future. He began to mumble something, his voice no louder than a broken wisp of wind in the silence of the car upon the back road streets. She leaned in to lend her ear to the musings of the boy with the voice as loud as a leaf falling upon the autumn ground, hoping to catch an inkling of his words before he once again fell silent, but with a loud inhale of breath he lifted himself back up and cleared his crackling voice of any wavering emotion that might leak through with the most monotone and broken of replies falling from his heavy lips. If she weren’t so blind with desire, Vivi would have no doubt felt her little heart sink to the floor.

“Vivi, he didn’t want you to know back then. I didn’t want you to know. This is how it is, this is how it should be.”

Again, the screaming of silence. Not even the tires against the road below made enough noise to cover the awkwardness, and stewing of unwanted thoughts and feelings in the van, falling near silent as though they too were mourning for the man of her faded memories. She leaned back against the bouncing of the couch behind her, feeling her eyes grow tired and weary with the promise of tears and the threat of sobs. Vivi was sick of not knowing her fate, and in this way she only grew even more rebellious and bitter.

Her eyes, nearly closed as the road gave a little bump of life on the neglected and dead street, locked onto something hidden only inches from her feet with only her own curiosity and an inkling of remembered usefulness to mark it as anything less than lies and marketed ghost crap. Salvation for Vivi was kept sealed and safe within a cardboard box, frayed and old at the edges and labelled with blurred and unrecognizable sharpie. She reached forward with hands growing greedy and desperate, careless and quick, allowing her chubby fingers to curl around the thin and brittle binding that left the pages frayed and old. She had pushed it away forever ago to gather and collect dust, but as she brushed it off it was a treasure trove she couldn’t believe she left behind almost two years ago. There was something about this book she remembered, something within its yellowing pages smelling only of mildew and age, that she had taken note of for future reference. This was her divine intervention, her salvation, and within it she knew she would find the means to her memories.

“We’re going to a motel. Separate rooms.”

Vivi, so lost in her memories, felt herself jump as Arthur’s voice cracked and sputtered with the usage of words he never thought he’d speak, something he never wanted to speak. He sounded lost and broken as he interrupted her thoughts with unpleasantness, the news unwanted and cold to the girl who seeked warmth and comfort. After such a scare on his life, despite her anger at his silence, there was nothing that Vivi needed more than the reassurance that came with the two of them sleeping in the same room if even in different beds, the knowledge that he was safe beside her and that his every movement was hers to gauge and analyze, the memories of sleepovers and camping trips and good times past between the two of them. Her mouth opened to argue selfishly, but she closed it slowly as she felt her heart sink a little further.

If he was going to push her away like this, she guessed that’s what he had to do.

They pulled into the broken parking lot of some motel she had never seen before tonight, completely average in every aspect-grey in color, square in shape, somewhat kept gardening-and tiny enough to fit into the small town without shouting too loud from its little corner in the back. Vivi and Arthur both took no time to gawk at the overall blah scenery around them or to even look around, both opening and slamming their doors to leave their homey van behind without any hesitation or second thought. Gripped close to her breast, Vivi held the mysterious book she placed so much faith in with the tenderness of a butterfly’s kiss while Arthur, eyes turned down and body slouched against the subtle wind, held nothing but regret and hatred towards the position he had maintained in order to protect Vivi from his mistakes. There was nothing he wanted more than to turn tail and run, but with nowhere to sprint to, he merely followed his best friend as her heart grew bitter.

She hurried ahead with the tiny heels of her shoes resounding loudly off of the street beneath, the wind screaming at the two as she left the boy and dog behind in the middle of a parking lot somewhere close to nowhere. Her voice shook when she walked into the lobby with the order of two rooms, each separate from each other as far as she could manage as if distance would make a difference. When Arthur finally did catch up to retrieve his key from the horribly dyed blond woman at the counter, his companion had disappeared somewhere into the maze of wooden doors and chipped paint. He really didn’t have the heart to find her without anything to truly say except a cold and broken ‘sorry,’ and so he took the dog and the heavy key that only grew in weight with every leaden step with his head hanging low, walking away from her and towards a very lonely night.

Vivi didn’t have much to look forward to, either, and as she closed the door loudly to her room and let out a broken, frustrated, and pitiful sigh she could feel the book weighing heavily on her hands and conscious with the promise of an adventure. This was the first time since she had woken up in the hospital nearly two years ago that she had been forced to sleep alone and without Arthur, and as she lifted her hands to run her stout fingers through her sweaty hair, she forced herself to keep the lump in her throat down as best she could. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be, the Mystery Skulls: ghost hunting was fun, it was an adventure and a journey, and it was suppose to bring her and Arthur closer together, not further apart.

She collapsed onto the bed with a dull ‘thud,’ hitting her bruised and battered back against the cushy mattress with a little bit of discomfort and pain. She lifted the book over her head, arms stretched and locked as she prepared for quite the read that night. In trying to take her mind off of her best friend, she began to flip through the pages idly and without hurry, hoping dearly that she had grabbed the right tome from the cardboard box she had once worshipped. Just as she had remembered in a flash of color, the pages were filled much past their original print with the input of two mysterious voices, and the pages were folded and ripped with memories of reference and use throughout the years of the book’s life. Even if her heart had dropped to the soles of her shoes through the course of the night, she had to take a moment to appreciate the beauty of a book read over and over again, a book full of stories well beyond the printed page.

The skimming fingers that tossed the pages like a whirlwind nearly skipped past her desired entry in their flurry of nail, freezing mid-turn in order to absorb what she had found in front of her eyes. Was this really it? Had she truly found the correct book? Her eyes read the title over and over as though it would morph before her eyes, not quite understanding what she had found. A summoning spell, a real life spell for summoning a ghost, and it was within her hands like the Sunday paper and no more! Her eyes burned into the print with laser precision and desire, pulling as much information as she could from the scratches and ink bled deeply into the yellowing and faded paper.

It was simple enough, requiring no ingredients that weren’t easily found in a motel room. Vivi had been expecting using colored chalk to draw intricate patterns upon the floor as she spewed ancient words of a secret language with a goat heart grasped, bloody and writhing, in her open palms, assuming something drastic was to be done in order to pull to her the soul that haunted her from such a far distance, but instead, all that was required of her was a name written on each palm. She shook her head-that couldn’t be right, there must be something more to this mysterious ritual-but she couldn’t find anything within the black print that might point elsewhere. In one last attempt to find something missing, the crucial ingredient of virgin’s blood or a first born child, she turned to the beautifully scrawled cursive with curiosity lighting her sunken eyes once more.

The cursive was intricately written, but it was in Spanish, a language she only knew the bare minimum of. Vivi could only assume that the purple handwriting below, a little messier but very self conscious of its curling letters, was a translation of the small paragraph above.

 

_Works well for spirits of high and concentrated energy still held within this realm of existence. A fond heart and thick lines quicken summoning, but the tether is easily broken. Be cautious, as breaking the tether prematurely may permanently vanquish a soul into nothingness beyond the earthly and heavenly realms._

_BEWARE: allows spirits free reign of mind and home. Potentially dangerous. Use only with much caution and proper wards._

 

She read the flowing notes a few times over, attempting to fully understanding the words by scanning the lines with careful accuracy and focus. A fond heart and thick lines? Was this some sort of riddle, or was she just not getting it? Her mind pushed the thoughts to the back of her head, taking the passage at face value and storing it for later evaluation. The blue eyes inside her head skimmed lower, finding below the text more of the purple print that had been her translator earlier, but it was lacking the Spanish cursive it was translating in the first place.

 

_Simple spell, easy, but may potentially lead to possession. Use only if higher spells are unavailable or irrational._

 

With that input, she now looked at her choices with a torn and chattering heart. On one hand, she could summon a potentially dangerous and definitely deadly, vengeful spirit with a hankering for revenge and a love for the bursting of flames into a small, confined motel room in a tiny town that would probably burn to the ground before the fire department was even notified, not to mention that he’d have wide open access to to possess her brain with which he could go after Arthur sleeping in the same motel, if across the lot. But then again, he had seemed so fond of her when he had paused to gaze into her eyes, his own softening gently at the corners, his voice rasping lightly with the chance of sobs sticking to the throat he no longer had physically, extending his heart so slowly and tenderly towards her with the hopes that her soft hands would catch and cradle it within their loving embrace.

She had let him down, and in that way Vivi felt she needed to apologize at least. His heart had shattered upon the floor because she wasn’t fast enough, he deserved a sincere ‘sorry’ at least, and this was the only way she knew how.

It was clear in her mind that she needed, to the best of her ability, to call him to her. There were too many questions, too many things left unsaid in those seconds of utter silence, and if he had truly meant to kill her he had quite the chance to watch her burst into bright flame when she was spread out across Arthur with his fire barrelling at her with the ferocious speed of a brakeless freight train.

Her eyes lowered back to the text, now rested in the folds of her bright sweater with a new determination and curiosity welling up within her. She was committing to the spell, promising the ghost with all the certainty she could give that she would try at least to bring him to her; and yet, promising was a lot easier than actually going through with something. As she reread the instructions one more time and racked her brain relentlessly for the one important ingredient, the only knowledge asked, she realized she was missing such a simple and vital piece of the puzzle.

His name had escaped her years ago.

She cursed Arthur’s silence under her breath, wishing he had at least let slip a remnant of the name of the mystery man who had taken hold of her thoughts so completely and entirely. It was on the tip of her tongue, two gentle syllables like a children’s song rising in the back of her throat and tapping gently against her lips as if asking politely to be allowed its leave, but the prisonous confines of her teeth took those words for convicts and clenched them as her suffocating memory coraled them back to lay at peace in her vocal chords. It killed her inside, knowing she had him so close to her memory but no more than a whimper to leave her lips, nothing but an ‘L’ that died out so suddenly. Levi? Lucas? Leon?

None of them sounded right, nothing clicked within her mind like a key to a lock or metal to a mold, every single one of them sounding unfamiliar and strange to the tongue that searched so furiously for the song to complete the soft letter. Those names died out slowly with a gasping release of air, fizzling into nothing but a meaningless sound escaping her teeth. She looked at her hands, still trying out the names in her mind and under her breath as she observed her plump palms with tense brows leaving the imprint of a headache upon her mind.

It her her then in a flash of light, the symbol reaching for her eyes with the brightness of a blinding pink. If she couldn’t find a name to give to her little mystery, she’d just have to use the next best things in the hopes that the point would be made, the connection soldered together, the reach completed with grasping hands whirling fingers into tight knots. The skeleton had been more than a name in this afterlife, he had been her memories and her safety...and he had been an exposed, beating heart, burning and flaming and flaring with every pulse that filled his mansion of mazes.

A symbol is just a name for the nameless, isn’t it?

Her hands plunged into the infinity of her overnight bag, pulling from it a pencil pouch covered in tiny white ghosts filled with sharpies and highlighters of her own, just in case that boring little notepad of hers needed a splash of color among the long records of ghost hunts and clients. From its confines, she pulled the blue and orange and yellow markers with her hands trembling slightly and fingers curling around their smooth surfaces, fumbling with the cap and gripping the orange with her right hand to draw on her left weakly. This was it, if she had time to turn around, now was it.

The orange pen traced slowly a heart across her palm, large and thick enough to give the ink just a little bit of a glow underneath the dim light of the cheap motel lamps. She took care to round and soften the edges, giving it the gentle fire she had so loved within the eyes of her mystery, her phantom of the night. And then, on the right hand with her tongue bit in concentration and focus, she began to trace the blue lines of a cracked and hollow glass shell, what he had become when she had left him alone and without tender hands to catch his entire being, his whole world and soul within the glass upon the floor. These two things, the heart he so embodied, was the only chance she had at seeing him and redeeming her inactions.

As the instructions specified, she closed her eyes and pictured vividly in front of her the skull and bright pompadour, the glowing eyes and the deep black suit pulled from nothingness itself, ironed out and ready for a funeral with the protection of ribs wrapping around to grip his chest from the outside so tightly. He moved in her mind, his well built body turning towards her as his voice reached out to her, trying to grab for her as though he were calling from far away, as though he were fading from her. She could feel her hands lifting in reply, her shaky voice singing to herself in a muttered whisper, filled with the intense and burning pain of remembrance and reaching and grabbing and screaming. Her palms clapped together, she could feel the energy running through her veins with the electricity of childish excitement and a little bit of supernatural intervention. He was coming closer to her, walking her way with large steps upon the dark floor, approaching her with one hand outstretched calmly and lovingly with forgiveness shining in his bright eyes…

And just like that, it was over.

Her eyes flicked open with fluttering wings, glancing quickly from the bed and around the room in the hopes that he would be there waiting for her so patiently. The lump in her throat as she double checked confirmed her biting fears: she was totally and utterly alone in the motel room, just as she had been before and how she figured she would be for the rest of the night.

For some reason, she could feel herself growing immensely upset, stinging tears biting at the edge of her eyelids with salty regret. He meant so much to her this man of no return, yet he was worlds away and she couldn’t find the faintest trail within herself to remember his fucking name, to pull him to her by any form of force. So clear in her head, nearly tangible to her stretching fingers and reaching voice was the bony plates that she could nearly feel against her skin, press against her face, but despite her efforts he was so far away now and it was all due to her lack of power and control. She looked down at her hands, digits tense and rigid as they curled into angry claws to mimic the ghost’s ribs and protect the two hearts stained into her white skin, burn marks etched into her pigment with gentle care and longing that meant nothing to the powers that be. The tears in her eyes were piercing now, rolling down her cheeks in tiny cascades and leaving glowing pink trails in her skin that she had no way of seeing, no way of knowing.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” She screamed, lifting her hands and gripping handfuls of the ocean between her fingers, pulling the roots in her head to the point past pain. If she had loved him so much, why couldn’t she remember that one little detail of vocal recognition, his true face covered in blood and flesh, the way her tongue curled to call him towards her with laughter and fondness leaving every letter sticky as it left her candy lips? Was he truly more than a friend to her soul if she couldn’t bring herself to certainty about his every characteristic, of had all of this passion been born of an illusion brought about by an overactive mind?

Vivi brought her hands hard to her face as her head began to throb, rubbing the plump palms into her sockets hard and without much thought beside the impulsiveness of angry actions. She began to see stars speckle the darkness of her closed eyelids, and the salt of her tears rubbed deeper felt like open cuts against her fragile lids. Over and over she repeated, whispering to herself in accusatory tones with a voice that was overflowing and flooding the room with desperation and anger, “why, why, why?” A sob escaped her lips as her heart sunk even further, a crack in the dam, and as she pressed the hearts as deep as she could to leave bright imprints upon her retinas she could feel the water flow and break the stone and cascade upon her in a river of broken and crackling downpours. She couldn’t control herself anymore, and with the choking and ugly sniffling of someone who has lost near everything-even without the memories of ever losing it-she let herself fall into sorrow.

Yet again there was a sudden jolt of electricity triggered by the tears upon the thick hearts carried on her palms, something rushing through her thick veins with the intensity of a ravenous forest fire and the softness of the caressing wind that carries it from one tree to the next, leaving her not sore with exhaustion and heat but relaxed, comforted. It was as though, in this tiny and cold motel room filled with nothing but her resonating and confused sobs and an impending sense of loneliness, she was not alone but comforted by the love of something long lost to her, his arms wrapping around her within the cheap motel bed and pulling her to his chest as he slept and snored softly in an act of protection and reassurance, a show of brotherhood and innocent affection.

She felt something like eyes burning into her back with the evident worry and pureness of a mother, maybe a father or...a lover.

Her head whipped up, eyes red with the remnants of her outburst as she hiccuped and sputtered, but also glowing from the residue of the pink tear trails as they fell down her pale cheeks and into the hands that had been pulled away from her face in surprise. She was no longer in her motel room, no longer surrounded by the large comforter and the shade of a lonely night but surrounded by the radiating light of daytime, but most importantly, she was no longer desperately and utterly alone. In the middle of the room, she saw a dark shadow with eyes soft enough to sleep upon. Her phantom’s voice, as he spoke quietly for fear of disrupting the calming silence, cracked with the anxiety of confused fear.

“...Vivi, what’s wrong?”


	16. Alone Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's when Vivi gives up the most that she finds what she is looking for, and in turn Lewis is given release. Even if she can't remember who her phantom was she knows he is hers, and even though Vivi can't put a name to his face Lewis is forever with her in his heart.   
> And so she is faced with that decision, a haunting desire come true at the expense of her sanity, or unknowing bliss with the frustration of forever wandering? In each case someone will find themselves hurt, but it is Vivi's choice as to whom.

Vivi starred in complete and utter silence.

She had once hated the lack of noise that followed her around like a bad omen, the hushed whispers of past memories hidden and the sympathetic glances from those she had known but forgotten to the telltale wind, but in this simple instant of lost and absolute wonder it came naturally to her ears. Once the silence had been threatening, deafening, the sound of death and loss and greed and destruction of the life around her. Now, in front of the shadowed ghost who had left her wondering she felt no need for the frivolity of words, not waiting for sound to jump into her throat eagerly. Any questions pondered were lost upon her, and as the mystery before her took a very gentle and quiet step forward, she could feel the silence thicken and the biting tears well back into her eyes. 

“Vivi, is it really you? What happened?”

He was reaching ever so slightly, a large hand lifting no further than his thin waist as he maintained the intimacy of eye contact with those same, worried sockets, his bare head no longer ablaze with the animation of pink flames but bald and smooth, his eyes darkened without their ring of unearthly light. He looked fatigued and faded, transparent almost, but all of his waning attention was diverted from his state of disrepair and focused on his blue-haired angel.

How had she called him to her? When her hands had pulled apart and her eyes had opened up with fitful currents of salty regret after a first attempt, every little bit of hope had been lost to the bright young woman and she had simply given up on the phantom of her divine heart. Even if her tears stung and her head throbbed strongly with the sore remnants of the man long forgotten and lost, she couldn’t help but convince herself that he was gone for good, forever, for the rest of her eternity. Now here he was, staring at her with unwavering focus through the darkness of his unlit eyes with the complexities of anxiety never leaving his bony face, and yet with this she could feel her entire body freeze in place as her palms grew sweaty and her skin shuddered in something akin to pleasure, anticipation, something very near to excitement. How had she called him to her with nothing more than the inking of a heart, how was he here?

She couldn’t stand the intensity of his eyes any longer, couldn’t stand all of the emotion running from them like dry waterfalls in the summer heat. Her eyes moved down to her hands resting lightly now on the bed, sheets blue and white to match her pale skin and so much different from the faded forest green of the motel just moments prior. The phantom followed her gaze loyally and true, looking at her sheets and then diverting his gaze to the room around him in a sudden rush of understanding. It was so white and pure, filled with the sharp scent of rubbing alcohol, and even if he lacked a mouth to frown Vivi could feel it. A wave of displeasure like a solar flare swept through the hospital room, a sense of guilt wrapping around the skeleton like a coffin to bury him six feet under.

There was a crackling to his voice, an open flame flickering in the darkness and wavering as it felt itself smothered by its own hand, “Vivi, you...you’re not hurt, are you? Oh, god, what did I do? You aren’t...I didn’t...kill you, did I?” He was suddenly turned towards her without the memory that she held, without the knowledge that this was simply the bed and room she had woken up in after losing her memory to whatever that green cave had held for her and Arthur two years prior, the only place she truly remembered in full, “I’m so sorry, Vivi, I didn’t want to explode like that, I swear it wasn’t me in there, not truly. I would...I never wanted this, any of this at all. Oh, Vivi, please don’t be dead…”

He reached out in full now, making to move towards the girl with heavy feet against the linoleum but stopping as she flinched back and away from him and further towards the edge of the bed in a subtle but heartbreaking attempt to get away from the phantom. His gaze fell, ashamed by his actions earlier that night and clearly pained as the one person he had waited to see most of all fell away from him as she always had. It hadn’t been voluntary, simply a reflex as the spirit who had nearly killed her and her best friend approached so suddenly and quickly, and she could feel herself growing heavy with awkwardness and the bright spatterings of blush upon her embarrassed cheeks.

“Look, I’m fine. This isn’t...I don’t think I’m actually here, in a realistic sense. You didn’t hurt me back there, not physically.”

She could see him noticeably relax at her reassurance, his shoulders falling and his head tilting as he gave a ghostly sigh. He had stepped more into the natural light of the sun now for her to see, his suit darker than a moonless and his bones bright and glaring against their celestial rays as they wrapped around his chest and towards his unbeating heart. The blue glass was broken now, a long dark line running down the middle with the shattered glass noticeably chipped and the flame within mysteriously and sorrowfully gone. Something within her responded as though by instinct, and Vivi had to stop herself from reaching out to grab and kiss the heart she had so suddenly broken within that mansion, within his home, to bring back the little flickering light that she had held in her hands and let die to the fear of danger and the running of her cowardly feet. This was all her fault, she could feel the reality of the situation sinking into her skin to settle like a lump at the bottom of her stomach. She had broken him, she had been responsible for his happiness and life in those few moments and yet she still let it slip through her fingers and to the hardwood floor below. She moved to speak back to him, started to let a whisper flow from her lips, and yet his deep and ghostly voice tinged with feedback and layers of voices rose against her instead.

“If you aren’t dead, Vivi, then why are you crying?”

Her mouth was open still to speak, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it as his eyes bore holes into her skull. She exhaled deeply, letting the breath leave her body slowly and completely as she closed her eyes and ran a gentle yet searching finger through her tired and sore mind. He was before her now in whole, a beacon of longed for answers, the lighthouse to guide her sinking ship to solid shore and yet nothing would leave her traitorous mouth beside the release of wispy air through her hissing teeth and still sniffling nose. It took all of her willpower to look up at the ghost then, her eyes hard set as she prepared herself to answer. What a loaded question he posed.

“Why am I crying? You tell me, why am I crying?” She looked away quickly in a tiny bout of frustration, not able to continue staring into the softness of those two caverns without feeling herself weaken in reply; with the furiosity of darkness bursting from her throat, she couldn’t let herself weaken in her heartfelt replies, “I have no clue who the hell you are, and yet I am so drawn to you. No matter what I do, you’re at the front of my mind like some sort of obsession, but I have no clue who you are. You tried to kill my best friend for fuck’s sake! I want to hate you so much, I want to want to cut you from my life and even this realm of existence for even thinking of laying a finger on the only person I have, but...I’ve never felt like this before,” her hooded eyes were lifting now, not quite looking at him so much as the floor beneath his feet as she watched him shift to one leg uncomfortably, her voice softer now, “After we left, I felt so...elated, so overjoyed, and yet more depressed and frustrated and temperamental than I ever have through these past two years. You awakened something inside of me, an emotion I never knew existed, and so I ask you: Why am I crying? Who are you, and why does your absence bring me to tears? And since Arthur won’t give me a straight answer, why don’t you tell me what you have to do with the night Arthur lost his arm, the night we came to the hospital...the night I lost my memory?”

The phantom paused for a moment, silenced by the power within the blue girls words and the force behind her wavering voice. He turned away slightly, his shoulders hunched in defeat and loss as he lifted his hands to cross his arms across his barrel chest. His eyes tilted to the floor just as Vivi’s had been, and the spirit who had once been larger than life became so small within the hospital room, within the confused anger of the girl he loved, that she feared he might just disappear. His voice as it blossomed into existence was no more than a wisp of smoke as the tiny candle fizzled and left the two defenseless within darkness, and the shadowed spirit faded even further with his ghostly voice turning to broken shards of glass, “You...you really don’t remember me?”

She nodded just slightly, her head falling onto her chest as she replied halfheartedly and felt her own beating organ break into two upon the floor beneath his feet, “...I’ve never seen anyone like you in my life,” she hated to see him so downcast, she could feel the heart of the man of her memories shattering again as though it were her own aching pain and couldn’t stand the sorrow of it, “I remember...a little bit, I think. Your name is like a song, it starts with an L, two syllables that are so soft to speak...I nearly had it, I almost remembered, but I just can’t! I can’t, and it’s my fault you’re hurt so bad. Please, stopping being so sad, I can’t be angry at you when you look so battered.”

As her kindness seeped back into her words, the ghost couldn’t help but smirk a little with his eyes, the edges glistening bittersweetly as his broad shoulders turned slightly back towards the girl in blue. Arms still crossed protectively, he stared straight ahead with threatening tears itching at the side of his bony face and a little mutter left to escape his quiet thoughts, “I guess my wish came true, then.”

Vivi could feel herself growing slowly more frantic as he became more and more like the wall behind him, his body fading little by little as his eyes closed in acceptance and a little tear glimmered down his cheekbones. She looked around the room quickly, trying to find a way to make him stay within the confines of a hospital bed, hoping to prevent his sorrow from reaching its fever pitch and forcing him to disappear into the darkness and leave her so soon. More than anything, she needed him here for the answers he held locked inside his broken heart, she needed someone to fill her with stories. Her eyes hit the window with its bright light the same as the day she had woken up, the same as the day she had been born anew, and a thought struck her searching mind.

“I don’t know if it will help, but this place is the last place I truly remember, the most vivid place in my mind, the hospital room I woke up in when Arthur was in a coma and I couldn’t remember anything that happened. The place we were taken after some horrible incident in a cave, one with teeth and eyes and filled with green smoke, maybe fog. I...I don’t remember anything before that, not truly. They play out in my mind but they aren’t me and something is missing, it’s like watching a movie. I see Arthur and I and I can feel that I was close to him, but the things we did are a dream to me. I see his mother and my past, I see the alleys and the gangs, I...I can see my father and my mother, and her lying dead, but it isn’t me holding her head in my lap, it isn’t me he’s leaving behind. The only memories I can truly recall as my own are from this day forward, the day I woke up here with the sun shining so brightly and the doctor telling me I had amnesia. The day I had to relearn my name and who I was.” she shifted in her bed, feeling her body squirm under the sideways glance of her ghostly listener, “Its been two years, and I still don’t remember what happened in that damn cave.”

He was coming back to life again as a bit of curiosity lit a match against his short wick, but his form only came to very slightly as he stepped from the shadows even further. He glided over to her bedside table and began rummaging through the drawers one by one, pausing as he glanced at the translucency of his bone-plated hands with a little bit of surprise. With each drawer, he ruffled through their contents with care, moving the papers aside of one, two...but there was nothing held inside drawer number three. With a little bit of relief escaping through his tense shoulders, the ghost stuck a hand carefully into the dark abyss that stretched on forever at the bottom of Vivi’s drawer, somewhere she had never really looked into without any need to.

“Good, it’s just a memory then.” She looked at him, eyes tinged with confusion as her hands fell apart from each other in the ruffled sheets of her lap. He glanced at them quickly and saw the hearts inked into her palms, reaching out very slowly as to not scare her a second time. As he turned her palms over in the fading hands of his own, he began to tut like a disappointed parent, shaking his head rhythmically with a voice swinging low, “Oh, V, you shouldn’t have used such a dangerous spell! I’m surprised that you were able to call me to you without a name, but if I had been dangerous, if I had wanted to hurt you...I could’ve, I still can without any wards set up. You’re putting too much trust in some monster you don’t even know.”

She pulled her hands away as though she had been burned by the words of the phantom, finding his knowledge of her actions to be somewhat unsettling, “What are you talking about, how can you know what’s in my books?”

Vivi could feel his smile as a warm rush of light fluttered over her skin, and aura spreading across her and him both as she sensed his happiness tinged with the childish sense of pride that swelled in the rising of his chest as he lifted his skull confidently, momentarily sidetracked, “Who do you think translated the Spanish notes? I read that book so many times, over and over again-they were once mine, you know. And I remember specifically that spell as especially dangerous to the summoner. Without strong wards ghosts like me can take over your mind and body without any trouble whatsoever. Other, more complex spells bind spirits to so many rules that they can’t possibly dream of hurting their tether, but this one is too simple, too risky. You could’ve been really hurt, V.”

She was more than a little surprised by this sudden development, recalling thoughtfully the conscious script written delicately beside the cursive words within every book she had found in the van so far. Her eyes met his hollow ones with eyes knit, grabbing their attention as she became tense and wary towards the spirit. No longer did she feel safe, only confused.

“Who are you? No more stalling with chatter about books and spells, how do you know so much about me?”

The ghost held her gaze steadily then, his expression changing swiftly from pride and excitement to the serious and sorrowful glare of someone holding more than enough heartbreak in response to the heavy words she carried. Twice he went to speak, made to fill the silence between them with truth and honesty, but each time his flickering flame fell to nothing but smoke. He looked at his feet, knowing it would take more than matches to light the truth beneath the feet of his bright summoner.. With a hand reaching up to cradle and hover above his broken and dying heart, Vivi watched him stammer and fail to bring words to his actions. It wasn’t until his arms held the heart out at full length towards her that his fire enveloped her, and it was with these words that he finally spoke with hushed certainty.

“Vivi, I wanted you to forget for a reason. If you truly want to remember me, you must take into your own hands the pain that I felt, that pain that I saved you from. V, you...you didn’t deserve what happened.”

She glanced at the glass between his hands and began to reach forward without hesitation or pause, but as she neared the glass heart so beautifully held in front of her she began to wonder, to think back upon the last two years of her life, the only times she could remember with utmost certainty and clarity. This was it, the moment she had waited so bitterly for since waking up in this hospital, in this bed, with the same light shining through the same windows on the same sunny day, but was this truly something she could handle? Her mind skipped to Arthur, so adamant and obstinate in his withholding of the memories she couldn’t seem to find; never had he been one to keep secrets from her in their entire life together, and yet when it concerned the ghost of her past and what happened so long ago, he became so aggressive, so sad. Everytime she found a clue, a little hint into what might have been the answer to her questions, the headaches would take hold and she would be left in the pain of a lost mind held under lock and key by some dutiful guardian, the pain she felt nearly tangible as she attempted to recall little tidbits and scraps left to gather dust in the back. Someone-supposedly the one standing in front of her right now-hadn’t wanted her to know, didn’t want her to remember whatever pains she felt while inside the confines of the cave, but then again...there were so many questions, so many things she couldn’t explain. In the hospital, why had she felt the need to wear the mourning black instead of her usual bright and vivid blues? Why had her heart sunken so much when she looked upon Arthur, reaching out for feelings of love she hadn’t truly felt towards the orange boy in their extensive lives together, and would this be her answer? Which option weighed heavier in consequence, and was her choice the right one?”

Without further thought and a little flash of teeth to bite her quivering lip in concentration and determination, Vivi reached forwards to cup the broken heart she had so carelessly dropped in her hands with the gentleness of a mother, vowing not to let it slip from her grasp a second time. Without the heat of the flames it had once held hostage, she could bring her hands closer to the surface as she hadn’t been able to before, and with his eyes staring so fondly and worriedly into her forehead she let her decision ring true. Her fingers brushed the glassy surface, and with that simple touch the locket burst open in a shock of light.

There was a rhythmic pulse through her body as, rested between the cage of blue glass, she gazed upon a fading photobooth picture cut fastidiously into shape and guarded so carefully by the ghost’s lifeline and force of being. She was hit with a burst of pain, a glance at remembrance as she lifted a finger to run a small circle around the face of the girl, so blue yet with the brightness of a smile lighting her cheeks and her hands gripping the side of her face, a giant so gentle in his loving embrace. This wasn’t just a photo.

It was a picture of Vivi, and next to her was…

She was pushed back to a life long lost to her, so different and yet parallel with the memories she had only so recently unearthed. They were in some ways the same and yet in many ways different, and yet there was one more person riding in the van with Arthur and her, one more team mate to fill the empty seats of the van, one more companion to cling to when the nights got too cold on the floor of the old car. With fondness she remembered huddling in the back against the couch together with boxes of books at their feet, minds open and pens flying as they took notes against the yellowing paper of her notepad and his copies; she remembered running and laughing and hunting the mystical creatures and spirits they so furiously studied, hair whipping in the wind as Arthur cried and she shouted back in delight; she even remembered the nights where she’d wake up in a cold sweat, the nightmares that haunted her gone to her memory but lingering in her fear, only to find herself safe in the arms of someone who enveloped her so wholly; but most of all, she remembered those purple eyes. In all their verdure, she remembered the living beauty of his shy violets, always so bright as they followed her every movement. Anyway she might turn, she could feel his adoration documenting her with loving attention, keeping the glowing wonder and child-like curiosity safe within his own mind. Nothing could stop the sweet smile that spread from cheek to cheek across her face, the joy and sugar within her lips taking in the happiness of days long past all at once and reveling in the simple yet cheerful days she had tried so hard to go back to with Arthur.

But then she saw the cave appear beside their van, looming and ominous and billowing green as it opened its maw to consume the little investigation team whole. Her memory still held the lingering traces of happiness, and yet Vivi was beginning to piece together the puzzle in her mind, beginning to realize just what happened in the cave that fateful night. A whimper escaped her lips, but no matter her struggles she could not leave the memories without seeing them through, without fully reliving the pain she must have suffered in those moments before it all fell black. Lewis and Arthur branched off to leave her alone and she left to explore the lower cave, covered in jealous green fog as it wrapped around her and obstructed her view. And yet, even with the area turned blurry she could still see the dot of pink above her on the cliff, she could still see him clear as day as he fell with arms reaching up towards Arthur. With utmost clarity, she could hear herself screaming her throat raw as his eyes, those shy, violet, angel eyes, turned to meet hers. Her tears never even touched the ground as everything within her view grew to a blinding pink, a deafening crescendo of bright light, and yet she could see his heart rising, she could see his chest...his chest was…

Vivi fell forward suddenly, growing faint as she came back from the haunting memories. There was a sharp pain through her breast, a puncture as though she had been the one impaled upon the reaching stalagmites below within the glowing green fog. It was terrible and absolute, all of the love and pain her heart took in only a few minutes time, and as she watched the ground in front of her grow closer still she could feel his arms catching her, wrapping around her, just as they had so many nights ago, so many times before. As he lowered her to the cold floor beneath to rest in his arms like a sick child, she could feel the subtle pinpricks of recognition grabbing at her eyes and sending the bright pinkness of tears to cascade down her full cheeks, glowing and shining against her pale skin. With a moment’s time she felt her entire world come back to her, and in that moment she reached up to caress his face and sob his name and pull him as close to her as was physically possible, all the while keeping his heart suspended in the air between them.

“Lulu! Oh, Lew, I’m...I’m so sorry, I can’t believe I...how could I ever forget you? Lulu, Lulu, how are you here with me right now with your heart beating and your hands so whole? You were falling and then I...I couldn’t save you, I couldn’t run fast enough or reach high enough, I couldn’t remember anything. I swear, Lewis, I never wanted to forget you, I...I…”

He pulled her face to his chest, so warm and living as he stroked her hair and closed his eyes in bittersweet bliss, wishing this moment could last forever, “Lewis, I remember everything. I remember hunting with you and reading and...cuddling, sleeping, being safe like this. I can’t believe I forgot your...your…”

As she was hit by another rock inside of her throat, she had to close her eyes to stop the flow of rushing water from flooding the spirit in front of her, from taking him so deep underwater that his fiery heart couldn’t burn bright. He lowered his head and buried his face into the ocean covering her untameable head with the softness and carefulness of a big brother, inhaling and basking in the presence of his divine darling, “It’s alright, Blueberry. I’m the only reason you don’t remember, I never wanted you to get hurt like you did. I wanted you to live a life free of my memory, a life where you could be truly happy,” he pulled her even tighter into his breast, almost as though she might flutter away as she already had before, “I’m just glad you’re here now, Vivi. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

She looked up at him, pulling her head from his to look into his eyes without restraint now, without the shyness and awkward quiet of not knowing the one who knew you so well clouding her view of this familiar stranger, “No, Lewis, I wasn’t happier without you. I remember everything now, but even when I didn’t...I still missed you, even if I didn’t know who I was missing. I can’t believe I forgot your...your…” She looked away and shook her head, closing her eyes as she questioned and berated herself, “Lew, If I had...if I had known you had...I would have searched to the ends of the Earth for-”

“And that’s why I wished so hard that you might forget.” he assured, placing a hand gently against her cheek to gently guide her eyes back to him as he rubbed her jawline, delicately and adroitly, “I wanted you to live like nothing had happened at all. I wanted you to live as normally as a ghost hunter can, maybe even go back to our home town and settle down back at the Tome Tomb, find your own way to happiness. I wanted your life to keep on going without me.”

As these waves of fondness rolled off of him, Vivi saw Lewis begin to regain his form, no longer see-through as his dark hands touched her skin opaquely. She grabbed his large palm in her small and chubby fingers, mimicking the picture held tenderly between them by some magic, the locket still open and glowing in the little space above his chest. With so much happiness flowing around them, so much unbridled giddiness and glee of remembrance of shared compassion, Vivi felt an inkling of fear tug at the edges of her ecstatic soul. What came after this, what came when the hospital faded and she woke up, alone in her motel room, just as she had feared? Still curled up in Lewis’ lap, she pulled her arms around his neck, smushing the heart gently between them with speculation and hesitation thick on her tongue.

“Lewis...what happens when this is all over?”

His tender hands paused in their curling of her hair, pausing with a handful of her river pouring through the bone plates of his fingers. She could feel his chest rise as though he were taking in a massive breath, but his head didn’t move and Lewis’ eyes didn’t close or shy away from their gaze upon the wall behind her. He stared straight ahead, unmoving and frozen in this instant.

“What do you mean?”

She swallowed, turning her face to the side so that her cheek rested on the softness of his suit, “Will you fade away? Lewis, is this merely a last stop before you go on to whatever afterlife waits for you? Will I...will I forget about you again once I wake up in the motel, once the hospital is gone and I...and I…” she looked up at him, chin digging into the black fabric and pink tears staining it dark with salt, “and will you disappear for good? I saw you fading from the window of the mansion, Lewis. This is all my fault.”

Lewis paused only momentarily before taking her hands lightly from around his neck and holding her at a distance, no longer intertwined and tangled together as he looked deeply into the soul her bright blue eyes held. He wrapped her hands in his own, revelling in the contrast between her tiny little digits and his oversized fingers before molding them around the broken glass of his heart once more. It gave a pulse of light, blinding orange filling the desperate blue with flame once more before falling dark again in a rhythmic motion, a beat. With each stroke of light through the locket, the cracks mended in the sensitive grasp of Vivi’s pale hands, yet it was only as she lead the heart to her lips with a whispering kiss that the heart finally began to glow on its own. With this newfound life, Lewis became truly whole once more, and the stars lighting the glass beneath the surface were beautiful and brilliant and mesmerizing, a reflection of her curious eyes imprinting upon its surface. As she guided the heart back to its tender body, she was pulled with a new vigor to take refuge in the folds of Lewis’ body, and it was with this living passion that he spoke back to her.

“No matter what, Vivi, I will never leave your side ever again. If you will have me, I will be beside you for the rest of our tiny eternity.” she could feel the air around her grow warm with the dryness of flame, the rising of his rebirth crackling around them with the heat of sparking embers gripping and playing with her skin. Her tears came thicker and faster, taking the moment and finding it hopeless as her voice poured into the ocean.

“Lewis, don’t go just yet! I don’t...I don’t want you to move one. Please don’t fade away, we can stay here forever, we can be like this for the rest of our lives, I promise. Just please don’t move on. Please don’t go to the light. I’m not ready to let you go, not yet.”

He chuckled, so warm and strong now that his life force had been restored and was running strong through his bones, a wildfire tearing through the remnants of his veins, “V, you got it all wrong. Look around, I am still with you, am I not?”

Her eyes sprung up from the lingering warmth of his undead body to gaze around the room once more, finding her glance met not by the hospital but the motel room from which she hailed. No longer were they surrounded by the blue and white of the pure and sacred place but the darker, earthier tones of forest green and a deep brown. The backpack filled with her toiletries, the book turned upside down on the bedside table, the folds in the bed where she had summoned her phantom and failed...everything she had was there, she was truly back to where she had been with Lewis still holding her, still solid.

“I always thought I was tethered to the locket around my neck, Vivi, that the only thing keeping me whole was my glass heart and the hatred that pulled me from the darkness, the despair I felt for so long, so long...but it wasn’t like that at all. The reason I’m here is not because I attached myself to some necklace I wore when I fell, but to the memory guarded inside of it. I was tethered to this world by my love of you, by your memory and your laughter and the stars that fill your eyes.” He was so confident now, so sure of himself as he spoke that he nearly didn’t even realize the proclamation that he let slip through his mind, the gentle and nearly unnoticeable declaration that scurried from his heart full and true and beating. As his bones filled with embarrassment and he stepped away quickly from Vivi with new found pompadour glowing near white with heat, he looked away like a shy elementary child after letting go that he might have a crush, “I mean, platonic love that is. Of course, uhm, we were really good friends.”

Vivi blushed for the ghost with a delicate smile hidden behind her hooded eyes and gentle lashes growing bashful, her hands reaching out to grab his as she took a moment of thoughtful silence, a moment of crucial planning and careful thought. Things like this didn’t come lightly, she knew that after so many years of pure existence.

“You know,” she grinned, turning his hands in hers observably, “I’m actually really surprised that I can touch you, Lulu. The only other ghosts I’ve known with that much control were the ones guarding you, your little friends in the mansion. It’s unique, it’s very special.”

He lifted one of his hands to reach behind to where the back of his neck used to be, letting it hover as he gave in to a cute and old nervous habit of his, “I’ve been around long enough to gain a good amount of control I guess, I’m just glad you guys didn’t find me before I began to lose it. That would’ve been a lot rougher. I mean, you remember how ghosts age from my abuela’s book, right? It said that-”

“It’s good...I’m glad.”

She had muttered so gently that Lewis almost didn’t hear her. Her eyes were still pinned to the hand that she held, her thumb running circled along the bone plates and the inner darkness of his palm. He could feel his face growing hot, could feel his emotional control sizzle into that of a teenage boy as the woman he adored ran her skin against his fingers, “W-why, what do you mean?”

Her blue eyes met his at once, the rings of pink glowing brightly with energy and confusion as she suddenly leaned in closer to him with her little smile lighting up the room and her arms pulling his digits to her chest, letting the ghost feel her beating heart within. She let her voice out as a whisper of mischievous rain, and with the slow drop of water from her lips Lewis could feel his entire being begin to melt.

“I’m glad because...because I was afraid I’d never get to do this.”

Her body pushed her onto her tiptoes in an instant as she reached with her tiny hands to grip either side of Lewis’ bony face, pulling his skull to her lips with eyes closed and heart hurrying quicker than she had ever felt it fly. There was a sudden and blinding puff of pink fire as she met the part of his face where his mouth had once been, his pompadour bursting into large flame atop his head with the surprise and wide-eyed confusion of a kiss, and yet as she held herself there he couldn’t help but close his glowing eyes and let his wild hair come to rest. Whatever anxieties plagued him before flowed away down her river, and just as he had always dreamed, Lewis enveloped Vivi with both of their hearts running and jumping and sprinting away. Even as she pulled away, her eyes opening to dust his cheekbones with gentle kisses from her eyelashes, Lewis could feel his head growing numb and his body falling weak in the wake of her brilliance. He held her in his arms without relent, his phantom muscles shunning release as he felt his voice rise back into his head.

“Vivi, I’m never letting you go.” He whispered, a voice so filled with pain and heartbreak and missed opportunities that it felt broken to the ears of the sorrowful beholder, “No matter what happens, I am never letting you go. I promise you this.”

“Well, you see, the thing is…” Vivi giggled, beginning to squirm like a child in his grasp as she remembered something very important, “before we go on embracing until the end of time, I’d like to get my pajamas on at least.” she was so happy, so electric as he released her to begin walking towards the cheap motel bathroom, “The key to a healthy relationship is comfortable boxers, I can assure you that. Just give me two seconds.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah, good idea.” His hair had settled down now, no longer jumping into the air and threatening to burn the motel down but still dancing at the base of his skull with animated excitement and thrill. As he was struck with a dizzying pain to his newly rejuvenated glass heart, he began to follow Vivi to wait outside the bathroom like a loyal hound dog, leaning against the wall as she began to bang around with the mandatory teeth-brushing and face-washing. He let his hands drum against the wall half mindedly, and after a few moments of silence, her timid voice rose from inside, tinged with awkwardness.

“Uhm, Lew, what are you doing waiting outside my door like that?”

If he had blood and skin, the skeleton would have no doubt blushed as her words caught him in the act. Instead, he let his hair lighten in color, growing hot and white with embarrassment as he answered back with just a little bit of guilt gripping his tone, “Well, a-as a ghost, I’m tethered to, uh, people and things. It, well, I was originally attached to my mansion and was able to roam about because of the Deadbeats, but, uh, when you drew the hearts on your palms and summoned me you became a new tether in a way.” His arm crossed, and he could hear Vivi resume her nightly ritual as he continued to speak shyly, “I don’t know how far away from you I can be before I begin to fade, but it was kind of hurting when I stood in the main area away from you. I don’t feel as dizzy when I’m over here.”

The faucet rang loudly with the promise of freshly running water, and Lewis had to strain to hear over the noisy sound of rushing liquid through the piping, “What’ll happen if you get too far away from me?”

“I honestly don’t know,” he admitted, crossing his legs now as he looked out the motel’s large windows, partly covered by the blinds, “I’m hoping I’ll merely be forced to you, teleported or dragged maybe. Or, if that isn’t it, maybe the tether will be broken and I’ll go back to my mansion. Worse comes to worse, I’ll fade away or totally lose control of myself and became a being of rage, so its not something I’d like to test out. In all the years we hunted ghosts together, no spirit ever left the side of their tether, and so I’m going to assume there’s a good reason for that.”

A car pulled into the lot, loud as its belt screeched and the wheels came to a shouting halt outside of their large windows. Lewis looked away in the hopes that the man who stepped out wouldn’t see him and call the police or another ghost investigation team. He didn’t exactly look human.

“You have a point. I called you to me with these drawings on my palms-do you think the tether will break if I wash them off, or maybe if they fade with time?”  
He nodded despite the fact that she couldn’t see him through the bathroom door, “I’ll probably just be transported back to the mansion, but I wouldn’t want to risk it. I remember reading that the drastic breaking of a tether can cause abnormal and premature fading.”

Instead of dread or worry, her voice rang out with laughter from behind the walls of the bathroom despite the seriousness of the subject, making Lewis jump in surprise as he watched the light pouring from beneath the door, “I guess I’ll just have to get some tattoos, then? Might as well get that tramp stamp I always wanted as well, spice things up a little. I hope the place across the street cleans their needles is all I have to say.”

Lewis could feel a smile tugging at the edge of his eyes, his own voice thick and playful as he answered back, “I’d join in getting inked, but I don’t think bone would retain pigment very well,” with this, his smile faded a little and he looked deeper into the implications that such a simple tattoo would have for Vivi, “You know, it really takes ‘spending the rest of our lives together’ to a whole other level. I literally wouldn’t be able to leave your side.”

The door opened suddenly and banged against the wall opposite him as, dressed in a bright white T-shirt sporting the Cabin in the Woods logo and a pair of bright blue ghost boxers, Vivi looked up at Lewis without restraint or worry and responded to his words cheerfully, “To be honest, that doesn’t sound half bad.”

She headed towards her bed cutely, her head bobbing and her chubby body busy with moving the comforter as the clock flashed angrily at her to announce just how early in the morning it was. Lewis followed like a puppy, enamored by the beauty of the woman he so loved as he sat down in the armchair at the foot of her bed dutifully. She began to curl herself into an impossibly tight little cocoon of blankets; it wasn’t even that cold outside, but Vivi could only sleep well when she felt warm and coddled and protected. she could feel the heat of her body radiating through the blankets, her feet sweating as she pulled them up and into the fetal position, but as she closed her eyes she couldn’t even begin to rest. Too much was frolicking through her mind, and it was with a dry and shy throat that she spoke up towards Lewis.

“Hey, uh, Lulu? Could you...could you cuddle with me, just for a little bit?”

The skeleton, now staring into the distance thoughtfully as his link prepared for bed, jumped at this startling request. Before he had died, the two had shared a bed more than a couple times when the van grew too cold to handle, but in the motels they only ever snuggled up together three times, when she had those debilitating nightmares. Despite this surprise, Lewis wasn’t necessarily disappointed, and it was with excitement that he stood up to head to the bed after a few moments taken to compose his taken aback self.

“You know, I might not be as warm as you remember. I am a ghost after all.”

She shook her head as it poked out from the comforter, grinning wider than the Pacific, “No, you’re still warm. You’re like a campfire, kind of toasty and dry but it feels really nice. I just don’t want to sleep alone tonight, not after I just found you. I feel like…”

Her voice trailed off as, still in his suit, Lewis crawled into bed next to her. She opened up the sheets to allow him the comfort and closeness of the blanket, and he heaved himself in closer to her with a hint of timidity in his hold. Knowing that she felt the same way for him, what had once been a simple and brotherly act took on a whole new level of intimacy, and he could feel his bones tingling as she curled up against him.

One of her hands found its way to his chest, barely there as she pulled her legs up tightly into a ball and rested her head in the crook of his neck, “I missed you so much, even if I didn’t know it, Lew. I was mourning without knowing who I was weeping for-I wore black, I couldn’t sleep, and I cried so much without knowing why or what for. I...I love you. I love you, and I missed you, and I especially missed this.”

He pressed his skull against the top of her head, her voice tinged with sleepiness and running slow as honey against the quickness of his now beating heart, “I love you too, Vivi. We’re together now, we don’t ever have to miss each other again. Just close your eyes, and I promise I won’t disappear tonight.”

She yawned, her face stretching as she inhaled deeply and ended with a grin lighting her closed eyes. Lewis could feel her breathing slow, her chest rising gradually less as she was pulled into the deepness of the rest she would receive. Even as her smile fell away and her eyelids became loose and without tension, Lewis couldn’t help but stare in wonder at her innocent beauty. Fit together like a puzzle, nothing but this moment mattered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I will shorten the chapter lengths there was just so much to put into this one guys! I tried stopping it halfway and it just felt...incomplete. So, enjoy this lengthy piece of work for this week and I'll get back to you guys soon enough! Thanks as always for reading, my lovelies.


	17. Morning Glories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's hard to believe after years of dreaming that Vivi is finally with him, but here Lewis is and here she is in his arms and all he can wish is for the morning to last a lifetime if not two.   
> But the real world is out there, and they do need to greet it. And with the real world comes Arthur.

Vivi stirred subtly in the morning light, twisting her body ever so slightly to land the rays of sun onto her pale and shimmering face like a spotlight on her waking performance. It could have only been a few moments since she had fallen into her beautifully deep sleep, an hour at most if you stretched the time long enough, and yet her eyes were batting so sweetly at Lewis and her cheeks were filling with a flush of bright color and those big blue eyes were brimming with a sleepy sort of tenderness, a subconscious display of adoration tinting the sky blue. Lewis held her still as he had promised earlier, vowing never to let her go as she welcomed herself wonderfully back to the waking world with a sigh of pleasure. She was perfect, and he felt perfect, and everything was just as it should have been. 

She smiled wide, a grin to best all grins with her cheeks turning those brilliant eyes into happy crescents, sparkling gems filled with thousands of facets. If Lewis’ face could soften even further than it already had, it did with that last show of tired affection, growing even warmer inside his newly fixed heart as it beat a steady and somewhat embarrassed pulse. This was what he had waited a million years for, a thousand eternities, just to be like this with Vivi again. Just to hold her, to feel her, to watch her living like she always had and he hoped she would for a long time after. This was it for him, he could die happy. 

“You know, watching people sleep is a little creepy.” 

Vivi’s voice was a dove’s wing against the backdrop of a Sunday sunrise, sweeping across the horizon with a peaceful, graceful silence before fluttering off into the distant sun as it rose from beneath the Earth in its own slumber. Lewis could feel the pale feathers dance across his face as her breath warmed his chest, sending silent electricity through his bones and between his joints with a shock and leaving him stunned in hush. His eyes closed to revel in the fullness of this moment, taking time to enjoy the simpleness of his desires and the innocence of his wishes. For now, he only wanted to hear her voice speak again, her breath hover above his deathly chest, because in that escape of air he could feel all the galaxies painting warm patterns on his phantom cheeks. 

“I couldn’t sleep, not with you so close by for the first time in forever. I don’t need to rest, anyway,” Lewis tore his eyes away from Vivi to glance at the clock on the bedside table, wondering why the heaviest sleeper in the world had slept for only a few short moments before realizing that it was much later than he had expected, “and, honestly, I guess I got so lost in the sounds of you sleeping that I kinda let time slip by. I swear it was two in the morning just a few seconds ago.” 

She giggled a little before a yawn began to distort her soft features, turning her smirk into a wide and gaping cavern without end as her eyes closed and tears jumped to wet her eyes. First her legs pulled with toes outstretched to the very edge of the bed, releasing the tension in her feet and calves as she reached her arms taut above her head in the same fashion. Lewis released her just a little bit so that she might extend herself even easier, but as she gave one last tug of her waking body it was around his shoulders that her arms fell. With a heave of achy limbs, she pulled herself further up the motel bed to plant a good morning kiss on the bony head of Lewis, a little peck of affection that sent his head up in flames and scorched his pillow with the crisp stench of smoke. 

Vivi laughed, loud and clear throughout the motel room as the morning sun lit her face and filled her up with gold. She knew it was the same Lewis that she had so loved if from afar, yet watching an intense and slightly terrifying skeleton ghost of vengeance and fire grow shy and embarrassed at a little kiss was more than enough to tickle her. He was adorable, trying to act so stoic and cool but ending up with hair hot white and flaming nervously at the edges, his eyes flaring brightly in response to her gentle touches. It was like blush on a middle schooler’s cheeks, it was like the cracking voice of a high school sweetheart, it was the cutest thing she had ever seen. 

“You’re so adorable when you’re embarrassed, Lulu!” She was giggling like a preschooler now, her voice a coin purse as it jingled with the promise of wealth and joy, “So, if you didn’t sleep, what did you do in your spare time in that mansion? Two years is a long time, and there wasn’t anything remotely fun in the mansion I saw.” 

He let his warm face go back to normal before speaking, each word heavy with slow thought as he processed his memories and tried to conjure a clear picture in his head. Honestly, he hadn’t done much throughout his stay in the mansion, but what did she expect from a vengeful spirit? They had never exactly been the poster children for productivity. 

“Well, I did have a room with a big TV and some older gaming consoles lots of movies, too. I’d play long games in one sitting, marathon Lord of the Rings, that kind of thing. When I got lonely, I had the Dead Beats to keep me company; the pulled a lot of pranks on me, left me little gifts, and even if they couldn’t speak to me all the time it was good to talk to them every once in awhile. They protected me and kept me happy, they really cared for me back there.” He grinned softly, reminiscing and remembering fondly the ghosts who had cared for him in his spectral infancy, “Sometimes, I’d sing with them quietly, but I was never very good. They enjoyed it anyway.” 

She reached her hands down to play with his, rolling them over to expose his dark palms as she ran circles around them absentmindedly, “What about that big ol’ fridge? You even had a little skull on it, like a branding to say ‘keep out!’ or something. It was filled to the top! I know you used to like cooking, but…” 

He watched her hands as they twirled around his, still smiling as he continued on, “Yeah, I cooked non-stop in the first week or so. I must have made at least a hundred dishes! My Dad always said it was something you had to keep up on, that if I left the kitchen alone for too long I’d lose my family’s touch,” he began to grow somewhat downcast after his words of pride and excitement, switching from bright eyes to a dull ring of saddened pink, “but then I just stopped. It was too hard for me, reminded me of too much without any real outcomes.” 

Vivi was watching him closely now, but his eyes were still down on her hands and away from her face, his plated digits gripping hers like a lifeline with desperation and a little bit of lost sorrow, remorse, guilt. He flickered like a dying light bulb at the thoughts, the memories rushing back, his flaming head growing solid with his rising anxieties and saddening acceptance of something on the edge of his tongue, so close and terrifying and true that his words hardly rose to meet her eager ears. 

“You know, I’ve forgotten what my father’s food tastes like. I can’t remember the spiciness of the chilies or the sweetness of the bells, the consistency of chicken, the creaminess of milk...It’s all gone. Food literally goes right through me without taste or smell or feeling, it’s become nothing to me,” the movements of his weary hands came to a halt, resting idle in Vivi’s protection as he pondered what would become of him with concerns to his family, “and then I think about them, my siblings and parents. How will they react to me, V? Or will I be forced never to see them again for fear that they won’t accept me? My Mom was nearly killed by a vengeful ghost when she was a little girl, and my Dad was raised by a ghost hunter. And I mean hunter, not at all like us. You and me, we’ve always tried to find a way to let spirits go in peace, but my abuela...so long as the ghost was gone, she called it good. All the doors and windows in my family’s house are lined with pure salt, and the one time my Dad found those lines broken, he nearly burned the house down for fear that something had gotten in. To them, I’d no longer be their son but the child of the devil himself. They...they’d never accept me, not like this.” 

Vivi reached her hand up to frame his face, rubbing the side of his skull gently to comfort him as his eyes closed with the impending threat of ghostly tears at memories most likely lost forever to him, drifting down the terrible tide of time and fate, “Oh, Lew,” she whispered, pausing to gather breath as his brow knitted in pain, “I’m sure they’d understand, somehow. There’s nothing your family values more than-” 

Before her words could reach their timely end, Vivi was met with the intensely jarring sound of metal on plastic as it filled the room loudly and violated the silence of her early morning chat with Lewis. Three knocks, loud as descending bombs onto a battlefield, gave her tiny heart a fearful start and forced her to jump in surprise while Lewis naturally fell into a protective stance on top of her. At first Vivi grew irritates, angry that such a special and tender moment between her and her long lost love had been broken, stolen from her; then, she grew fearful, because in the eyes of her phantom she could see the red promise of blood vengeance and hatred, and she knew who was on the other side of the door. 

His voice was a sliver of hope within the burning of a forest fire, unaware of any danger at all as he spoke up warily, “Hey, uh, Viv? You should probably wake up. They got a free breakfast going on in the lobby, continental or whatever it was. It would probably be good for us to grab something to eat before we go, stock up and stuff.” She could hear him gulp noticeably as his throat grew dry, her mind showing her in detail the exact movements of her best friend after years spent together, “Also, I would, uh, like to talk to you. I’d like to apologize. I’ve been...I’ve been acting weird lately, and you don’t deserve it, and...well, come down to breakfast and we’ll get this all figured out, okay?” 

It took all of Vivi’s power to keep a strong hold of Lewis’ arm as he slowly began to rise further and further from the bed, nearly floating as he stood up with hair a blazing streak of pink fire taking refuge on his bald skull. He was a flame of angry heat and boiling energy, taking long stride with the sprinting of his anger and preparing himself to deal a final blow through the plastic that separated him from his target, poised to knock it down and send a cleansing rush of flame towards the unsuspecting man on the other side. An ember strayed from his pink head, lighting the bedsheet with a wisp of smoke as a disaster began to steadily grow. To keep the motel from burning down, Vivi was forced to release Lewis so that she might smother the flame before it spread. 

Arthur knocked again, unknowing of the struggle going on within as his rhythmic beating on the door grew louder and somewhat more anxious, “...Vivi? I don’t want to come in there and wake you up, there’s not much time le-” 

“No!” Vivi shouted quickly and suddenly, her voice shrill as it shrieked forward in an attempt to stop her friend from entering the room. Lewis was still fast approaching the door, and if Arthur opened it even the slightest...he would be ash in less than a few seconds, something Vivi couldn’t bear to think, “No, Arthur, I’m up. I just, uhm, don’t have any clothes on right now! So you might not want to come in, it would be very awkward if you did. I’ll be down in just a little bit!” 

There was only silence now. Lewis had placed his feet back on the carpet now, no longer floating but still as stone with his eyes planted dutifully on the door and his hands raised with tiny flames dancing in each palm. Vivi was holding her breath without realizing it, hoping her blatant lie had sounded sincere enough to lead Arthur away from the motel room door, but she could still hear him breathing on the other side, heavy and thick. There was a small ‘clink’ as his metal hand rested lightly on the door in absorbed thought, but her best friend made no attempt to enter. She could hear in his voice the embarrassment as he backed away very slowly, and she could feel his warm blush through the door like a campfire. Or was that the impending flames still rising on a few feet away fro her, in Lewis’ hands? 

“Oh, alright then. Well, don’t take too long, the breakfast closes in half an hour. You don’t want to miss out on, like, five whole wheat bagels and maybe some dried out bread. Possibly an egg if we’re lucky enough. I’ll, uh, leave you to your...nakedness…” 

His heavy feet were clear on the concrete outside, loud and resounding as he left the red danger zone and headed back the way he had come. There was a release of anxious breath on Vivi’s part, an exhale of all the tension she had felt in those last dire moments as they fell away from her in one fell swoop of relaxation. Her clenched hands released the charred blanket, smudges of black staining the bright hearts on her palms and clouding her vision as she reached one hand up to rub her eye. Those eyes closed now with the knowledge that the phantom who threatened her companion couldn’t stray far enough to get him. Arthur was safe for now, and Vivi was growing very, very angry. 

It was nearly flawless, her metamorphosis from relieved best friend to pissed off girlfriend. One moment, she was completely encompassed by her celebration for the life of the one she cared so dearly for, the clear safety and release from harm of her companion for life, a team mate and partner in crime escaping at the last minute as the bomb ticked away with impatient clocks all around The next moment, she was filled with a passionate rage of immense diameter, her cheeks flushing with anger and her blue hair standing on end and the goose bumps on her arms raising with distaste and distrust. Her eyes sprung open and squinted angrily at Lewis as though trying to rationalize his actions, his skull still facing the door before it swung around to face her with a hurt kind of betrayal lining his eyes and a lot of confusion mingling into a mass of terrifying intensity. Both had many words to say, but as Vivi lifted herself from the bed with cold presence, it was clear they didn’t have the time. 

“Why didn’t you let me get him, Vivi? That was my chance! I could have-” 

“No, you couldn’t have, I wouldn’t have let you,” She huffed, walking up to him with her tiny chest puffed out like a little angry bird, “What were you thinking? Were you just going to burn the entire motel to the ground with all the innocent people-and us-inside of it? And who gave you the right to murder my best friend?” 

Lewis sputtered, clearly surprised by the fact that she wasn’t supporting him in his endeavor and the still standing loyalty towards the traitor behind the door, ever present in the strength of her unwavering straightness, “Did you just forget what he did to me, V? He killed me, in cold blood! How can you possibly tolerate being anywhere near him after what he did? We were happy, we were-” 

“I wasn’t done!” She was livid, her face a bright red and her eyes leaving bullet wounds through his bones, “There are always two sides to a story. Before you go apeshit and burn Arthur alive, I’m going to get both of those sides, no argument. Until then, you have no right to kill him.” 

Lewis sat down in the armchair of the room with an exasperated and heavy sigh, falling down hard on the stony cushions and pulling his arms across his chest as Vivi began to rummage through her overnight bag, “Is there ever really an excuse for killing an innocent person, Vivi? Murder is murder, and that’s never right.” 

His voice was nearly a whisper, like a bitter child who wants nothing more than the last word in an argument. It was biting and sharp, and it hurt Vivi more than anything he had said prior to. She stopped shuffling through her bag for a moment as she absorbed his words and yet, no matter how she looked at them, they were still painful, vicious, untrusting. He would never understand. 

“Yes, sometimes...sometimes accidents happen. Things don’t go the way you plan, and...and…” she began to shift the many things in her bag again, grabbing pieces of clothing and boxes as she went. She pushed the memories from her head before they could spread and take hold of her, so close to her heart yet far away in time. Should she tell him now, the secret she forced away with every breath? 

“No. There’s never an excuse.” 

She guessed not. 

Vivi began to absentmindedly change her clothes without thought to the boy in the room with her, pulling her T-shirt over her head with mind still focused entirely on the suppressed memories in front of her. She could see from the corner of her eyes that Lewis was growing shy and bright despite his anger, averting his eyes to give Vivi a little privacy as she switched out her boxers for something a little nicer, but Vivi was still in a fighting mood. Her skin continued to crawl, her mind shouted answers and arguments, the hair on her arms stood up ferally in response to the anger she felt. She couldn’t leave Lewis without knowing he wouldn’t hurt the boy she cared for like a brother, his safety was of her utmost concern, and so she had to play dirty. 

“Lewis, he was distraught once you died. On the rare night that he fell asleep before I did and I could hold his hands, I found marks on the inside of his hands, little cuts like he had...like he had clenched them to the point of bleeding, something purposeful. Sometimes, I had to stay up with him for days on end so he wouldn’t...so he wouldn’t kill himself. He wasn’t happy, or elated, or even indifferent to your death-even if I didn’t know why, I knew he was sad, Lewis.” Vivi began pulling something else from her bag, now fully dressed in her usual clothes though Lewis still stared off to the side as a courtesy, “He blames himself for your death, but I know him, and he’d never kill no matter how jealous he grew. If I hadn’t been there with him, Lewis, he would have done something more...permanent.” 

As she found what she was looking for within the never ending abyss of her bag, Vivi could hear Lewis scoff with disgust and a new burst of cold anger filled her short frame with freezing fire, “Good,” he muttered, crossing his legs and continuing to look out the window as Vivi kneeled down on the ground with a piece of chalk in her shaking hands. If she weren’t so focused on the task at hand, she’d have quite a few angry words to day to her phantom, “He killed me, he deserves to die. By his own hand is as good as any.” 

“And that’s where you and I differ in opinion, Lew. But I’ll get to the bottom of this, I’ll prove him innocent, and I’ll solve this mystery even if I have to do it alone.” She mumbled, finishing her drawing on the ground with a disappointed sigh. Lewis went to speak, maybe argue his point further, but as he looked back at her from his view of the window he found he no longer had the power to do anything more than speak. Surrounding the little chair with which he sat, like a ring of sharks in the water, was an intricate and quickly drawn ghost trap, a ward that prevented the leaving of a spirit from a specific place. Vivi, blue chalk in hand, stood proudly over her handiwork with a little grin and no remorse, “And if that means leaving you hear for a few minutes, then hell yeah I’d doing it. While I’m down with Arthur, I want you to take some time to think about what you did today and how you could’ve done it differently. Think of it as time out, but for misbehaving ghosts.” 

Lewis' eyes grew wide, reaching his hands out to her only to find them repelled by an invisible wall, her skin just out of reach as he strained against the powers surrounding him like a toddler eager to be picked up, “But...but, Vivi, I need to be close to you or else-” 

"As in the words of your grandmother, 'a trap can temporarily replace the need of a tether,' if necessary, and I find this instance to be very necessary indeed." She proudly quotes, seeing right through his trick and flaunting her knowledge as she slipped on a pair of shoes and prepared to head to the lobby, "I'll only be gone a little bit, and I think we both need some time to cool off. When I get back, be ready to listen and listen well. We're not leaving this motel until we have the truth in order." 

"Vivi, no, you can't do this!" He cried out, his hands pressed against the invisible wall separating him from her like a starving child peering into the stainless glass of a candy shop window, but she was already opening the door and exiting the room when his words reached her. She could hear him halfway down the hall as she walked out, wailing and shouting in both anger and desperation her name and the killing words, 'come back!' 

 

 

"Good, I didn't know if you were coming or not. I grabbed you whatever I could find, they're closing the breakfast down soon." 

Arthur was sitting solitary next to the only window in the petite dining area-if you could really even call it that-surrounded by a handful of messy, tired looking travelers. In the middle of nowhere there seemed to be at least a little traffic, and the tables surrounding Arthur boasted a mother and daughter chattering loudly about their travels over coffee, a young man reading the newspaper upside down as he tried to catch the eye of another, and an elderly couple smiling serenely above a bagel and tea. It was pleasant if quiet, but Vivi was on edge and the plate full of week old donuts-a special treat for the two investigators-did not seem very appetizing. 

Quickly and as inconspicuously as he could, Arthur was wrapping bagels and donuts and all sorts of muffins into a thin plastic wrap to take with the two on the road By refusing many of the better paying and therefore more dangerous ghost hunting jobs, the Mystery Skulls had often had to cut corners and pinch pennies to make ends meet and fill bellies, but despite Vivi's hunger she couldn't even look at the stale feast in front of her let alone take a bite. She tried desperately to find a little tick of hunger, a sign of appetite, and yet she was absolutely disgusted by what was in front of her despite its fairly fresh appearance. Without much thought, she tossed the donut around a few times on the plate before settling on a few sips of lukewarm tea, finding that satisfying enough. 

More worrying then the ruckus from inside her motel room or the quickness and nervousness in her shouts from earlier, never had Arthur seen Vivi give up a meal, especially a sugary one. She had more energy than every solar panel in the world, and to fuel that she could scarf down the share of a football team without so much as a blink. Come to think of it, Arthur had never in his life found Vivi wake so early in the morning without him having to shake her to consciousness; something was wrong, very wrong, and all his attention shifted to her in an attempt to fix it. 

"Vivi, is everything okay?" He began hopefully, but then his mind corrected him and he grew critical of himself, looking down at his hands as he clasped them together on the table with a loud clap. The metal was slow to wrap around his good hand, but Arthur was used to the numb, delayed reaction by now, "No, never mind, nothing's okay. And that's why I wanted you down here in the first place. I need to apologize to you, and I need to tell you the full truth. One hundred percent, in all its entirety, I must be honest with you." 

Vivi, startled by the sudden noise from Arthur, felt her eyes grow wide as she looked up to shake her head. Her words were gulped back into her dry throat, sandpapery and thin and tinged with just the slightest hint of dread, "It's alright, Arthur, you don't have to-" 

"Uh-uh, the last time you told me it was alright and I didn't have to tell you right away, we got ourselves into this mess. I stayed up all night thinking about it, Viv, and how I've been acting-hiding things, keeping you in the dark, getting so aggressive and angry at the drop of a hat...you don't deserve any of it." He licked his lips quickly, glancing to the side so that he could keep his eyes away from hers and the steady stare she kept with him, "I value our friendship, I value what you mean to me. The way I've been is just not acceptable when you're the only one I got." 

"Arty, it's fine, I-" 

"Just hear me out!" His voice was raising, grabbing the attention of the mother-daughter duo at the table nearest to them before he began to quiet ever so slightly, growing embarrassed as eyes turned to look his way confusedly, "I mean, Viv, you trusted me with so much. The least I can do is tell you the whole truth, it's something you deserve to know." 

"Art-" 

He was choking up now, his throat thick with a mixture of phlegm and remorse as he hung his head lower and towards the table, his voice growing smaller and smaller with each dying word from his mouth. To Arthur, this was his world falling down around him, the walls to his castle crumbling and filling up the moat, and he only hoped he would look back up to find loving eyes and an understanding smile instead of startled surprise and hatred, "Vivi, you were right, I did know that ghost in the mansion. I knew him because there used to be four Mystery Skulls. You, me, Mystery, and...and..." He was almost in tears now, so quick to upset with the memories of a purple-haired specter taking place of a team mate, "and Lewis." He gulped in an attempt to clear his throat, but to no avail. He continued on with his eyes still hidden from her view, "You...you loved him very much, and I...I...when he...I took you loss of memory as a blessing, I thought it meant you simply weren't supposed to know, because at the cave..." 

Arthur was no more than a blubbering mess now, all the fear from years of hiding his terrible secret rushing forth in a gush of sobs, the waterfall breaking free of the dam and washing over him without mercy. People were definitely staring now as the man with the robotic arm held his head and cried out incoherent words of apology. His muffin was no more than a dirty sponge now, his shoulders shaking and hunched over the table as he tried to hide his face in the food on his lap. He fell silent save the hiccups, alone and isolated at one end of the table, an island in the vast sea. But he forgot that he wasn't entirely by himself in the lobby. With a searching hand, Vivi found his living arm and gripped his fingers tightly. 

"Arthur...I know." She whispered, squeezing his hand in an attempt to calm him down and comfort his sniffling tears to silence, "I remember Lewis, and the cave, and I remember him falling from the cliff and into the fog. You don't have to relive it anymore, I'm here and I remember. It's all over." 

He was silent now, his amber eyes slowly lifting to look up into her skies as his glistened red with tears, so brilliant and shining and wet with tears. He was stunned to say the least, those same eyes wide and confused and trembling, but then as he came to absorb her words his shoulders slackened and he came to accept this sudden turn of events, her knowledge of something she couldn't possibly know. He was relieved that he didn't have to say in full what he had done, he didn't have to go over the details for a hundredth time with her already aware, but that brought up another problem. Arthur grew tense once more, growing worried at the implications that she remembered what he had done, that he had pushed Lewis from the cliff and ended his life. Vivi knew, and that made him more anxious than anything in the world. 

He hadn't noticed that Vivi had stood up, swinging around the table with a wide step to pull Arthur from his chair without warning. She gripped his hand like an iron glove and lifted him to his feet, breakfast and all, "Follow me, I'll explain everything. I'll show you everything." She exhaled, her voice quiet and breathy as they walked down the hall at a quick pace. Her strides were hard to keep up with despite the shortness of her chubby legs, and Arthur was forced to walk quicker than he was used to for a casual walk. They twisted and turned through the hallways like a labyrinth, weaving between doors and rotting wooden pillars, finally coming up to her door and into something horrible. Arthur was by her side and she had even grabbed the door handle in her hand with a vicious sort of expectation, a full understanding of what was to come and the pain of knowing digging deep into her very soul. She knew what was on the other side full well, and that whatever happened would most definitely be very dangerous and deadly if her ward was defective in any way. 

"Vivi, what's going on? Why are you shaking like that?" 

She licked her lips before biting them, her eyes shaded by her thick hair and her free hand still gripping Arthur without sign of letting go. "Because," she stuttered, holding her best friend just a little tighter as though their closeness might protect him from what was to come, "reunions were never my strong point." 

Maybe it was the fear in the eyes of a woman without worry, or the gentle trembling of her strong hands as they suffocated his hand, but Arthur knew what was coming and what was going to happen before the door was opened before him. If he had screamed, neither heard it over the pumping of blood through their ears, the pulse of their bodies louder than the bass drum of their hearts. She threw him in and followed close behind, hoping against all hope that maybe this would work itself out, that everything would be fine and the trap would work like a charm and she could get both parties to listen, but there was a dying in her chest that came with the bursting of light from inside the motel room, and she knew deeply that it wasn't going to work out that smoothly. 

There was only terror in Arthur's amber eyes now, only the abhorrence of death and the fear that came with the inability to accept it. He was trying so hard to claw around Vivi, finding even his immense trust in her wavering as the door closed behind the blue girl and came to a close with the chair barring it from his access, her legs crossed as she sat down and he found no way out. There was only one way to go, in, and in the words of the girl he found so often putting him in danger, he was too far in to turn around now. 

And so he did turn around to come face to face with the daydreaming tiger. Lewis had been waiting for Vivi with legs crossed and arms resting daintily on top of them, but upon seeing his murderer he rose to roar with the stripes of revenge painting him pink. An instant was all it took to go from hopeful and patient to vicious and enraged, and it was clear to Arthur that this tiger had been starved, deprived of his most basic needs. The caged feline was bloodthirsty, and the frightened bird within reach of his elongated claws was a good enough snack for now.


	18. A Game of Grey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No one gets to leave this motel until Vivi is satisfied, and that is taking a lot out of both Arthur and Lewis. When you put a murderer and his undead victim in the same room, it never tends to end well, and when neither really wants to make amends it kind of puts a little strain on the whole "reunion" thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **NOTICE**  
> I tried to post Chapter 19, but unfortunately my computer whacked out and I was unable to. To add onto that, for some reason the file where I keep my final drafts has become blank, as if I never wrote on it in the first place. This being said, I will have to rewrite entirely the next chapter.  
> As I will be travelling quite a bit tomorrow, I should have time to write. I will attempt to have the next chapter up by Thursday, but unfortunately I am up way too late already! I am so sorry for pushing us back so late. Everyone get a good night's sleep, and I hope to see you soon!
> 
>  
> 
> **SECOND NOTICE**  
> I have rewritten chapter 19 three times now, and each time the file becomes corrupt/doesn't save correctly and I'm forced to start over. I'm trying my best to rewrite it for a fourth time, but since there is clearly a problem with my laptop and saving files I won't have that extra time at school to write. Again, I am really sorry. Let's hope the fourth time is a charm, eh?

"Vivi, why are you doing this? Get me out of here, please, just let me go..."

He was strained as far against her leg and the door as he could possibly go, unable to stand as his legs failed him and his heart ran so fast it didn't beat at all. His eyes were the size of moons and his body was trembling like the feeble and ghostly light from it, searching the room frantically for a way out and finding nothing but the inevitability of a sure death, a drawn out sentence of pain followed by a long execution as payment for his many sins. Arthur knew deep down that he deserved whatever was coming for him, he understood why Vivi had handed him over to his absolute and terrible demise, but his eyes still stung all the same from her betrayal and the quickness with which she threw him under the custody of a vengeful ghost. When he had admitted his guilt, he must have simply mistaken the acceptance in her gaze for forgiveness, and how wrong he had been.

"Please, Vivi, if you let me go I'll never bother you again, I'll leave you two be, just let me live. I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry Vivi..."

The ghost was pressed up against the restraining ward with his hands pushing hard against the invisible glass separating him from the other two, his hair flaring and alive like a bonfire and his eyes burning and brighter than ever they had been. Under his breath he swore vulgarly, his voice caught like a curse around Arthur's name as it rolled around with the countless, unspeakable terms of growing distaste, threats bouncing from the spirit and reaching the ears of Vivi and his prey with frustrated and agitated sparks. There was a fire in the room, a nearly tangible flame consuming the space between Lewis and Arthur, and even if the orange boy had fueled it in the first place it was the ghost who set it up with the click of a match on sandpaper.

"Vivi, just let me out of here already! I can almost...I just need..."

Vivi throughout the entire excursion had stayed eerily calm. Arthur was screaming and Lewis was shouting and she just stood against the door with her arms crossed like a disappointed mother, tapping her toe occasionally as the two pleaded with her, begged her to see their side as true and in turn achieving nothing. It was louder than a train station and yet she did not flinch, it was dangerous and yet her fear of Arthur's death had faded, and before her she saw nothing more than two misguided and slightly murderous five year olds, bickering and whining at her ankles.

"Oh, would you stop that, both of you? Especially you, Lewis, I thought I told you to take some time and think about this," she scolded, turning to the trapped ghost as he stopped pounding against the ward and his voice fell silent, "I told you when I left to be ready to listen, and that we won't be leaving until this whole situation is situated. I have both of you here, now figure it out like adults."

Lewis felt a pulse of heat burst through his head, sizzling like the hissing of a cat as he clenched his fists tighter, venom filling his voice and tainting his words, "Did you not see what happened to me, Vivi? Did you not notice him pushing me off a fucking cliff? Or did that just kind of fly over your head?" He let his fist pound once again against the ward, a satisfying boom echoing through the silent motel room, "He doesn't deserve to be listened to! All he deserves is to be burned to a crisp, to feel the same pain I felt when I was falling if not more. He's the one who should be a ghost, not me!

Vivi shook her head, clearly not taking Lewis' orders as even a suggestion, "No one deserves to be dead, not like this. Either you sit and settle down or I'll find something in your grandmother's books to make you." Her voice was commanding, conquering all of the room like a drill sergeant and forcing itself to be heard, "Neither of you are leaving until I am satisfied with our talk. That means you don't get to leave your ward and Arthur doesn't get to escape from this room, capisce? You will at least try to talk about what happened, and if you don't...well, I'll make you."

Arthur gulped, his voice dry and cracked as it tried to speak, no more than a whisper in loudness yet even more trembling and terrified than any whisper could possibly be, "I'll talk if it gets me out of here, just please don't let him go before then, Vivi, he'll kill me. He wants to so bad, and this time he won't miss his shot, and...and..."

"It's alright, Arthur," her voice had grown quiet now, softer as he agreed to her demands with shaking skin and teary eyes, "I won't let him hurt you. You'll be safe with me, I promise."

Vivi's hands crept down to cover Arthur protectively for a few moments, and she could feel his trembling lessen and the tension in his stiff body give way as he leaned against her for support now rather than fear. She held his good hand in hers, lightly, gently, and waited for their eyes to meet as he searched for reassurance. Those amber eyes, moments before filled with lost trust and dying hope torn to pieces before his very fragile heart, had filled so quickly again with the realization that she had not forsaken him, that Vivi was still a loyal friend. Vivi twice had put her own life in danger for Arthur's sake now-he could trust her in this instance, he knew that now with her so close to him and the two of them both so far from the enraged companion who threatened him again.

Lewis was sputtering now as his lover showed sympathy to his murderer, watching as she held Arthur's hand and feeling even more rage fill his hollow bones with heat and energy as he took a step backwards in surprise, "Are you serious, Vivi?" he cried out, knitting his eyebrows in angry confusion before pulling his head down in angry hatred, "I don't think you're feeling the weight of the situation exactly: he killed me. This isn't some minor offense or petty argument, he took my life, stabbed me in the back, pushed me off a fucking cliff! I had siblings, parents, dreams, hopes, and they are all gone because of his greed!" Even as his voice reached its climax and his shouts were raised even higher into the nearly abandoned motel, he looked away, feeling his passion grow too great and trying to curb it away from Vivi if even only in the slightest, "Vivi, I wanted to marry you. I wanted to take you back home to our old town once we got tired of ghost hunting and take over my Dad's restaurant when he got old, maybe even start a family of my own, surrounded by everyone I love. I wanted so bad to simply live, to achieve the things I strove for, and they were all taken away from me. When I was happiest, when I was at the height of my joy, he pushed me in the most literal sense! How can you look at that and still see a friend, how can you comfort him and...and..."

His voice faded away, his gaze still to the side and away from her but his presence directed entirely at Vivi as he landed heavily into the chair close behind him. It was noiseless, silent, the thin walls of the room only faintly implying the noise of a vacuum cleaner working in the far distance. The pain on his face etched dents into Lewis' bony skull, turning his eyes downward and his flaming head to a calming halt as he began to solidify the flame, as he began to settle down slightly with his burning tangent ending. Vivi too had turned soft once more, feeling the pain of the room heavy upon her shoulders. He needed this silence to absorb and prepare, he needed this silence to reflect and repair, but all silence must meet their end eventually. She straightened herself with the soft rustling of fabric accentuating and making even smaller her fine words, not wanting to speak but feeling herself obligated.

"Lewis, even if that's true, there's more to it than just that. This picture isn't black and white, this trial isn't right and wrong-there are many shades of grey, and there are many stories to tell. Please, just listen to his."

There wasn't even a moment of pause before Lewis whipped around, furious once more though his eyes had grown wet with tears and his voice was crackling with the nasty lump that jumped to his phantom throat, rendering him to sound no more controlled than a toddler as he yelled, "There's nothing he can say that can change my mind, Vivi, he's a murderer, a traitor, a-"

"Listen to me then, and give him a chance!"

"No!" Arthur shouted, surprising the two and even shocking himself a little as he finally lifted his voice above a sickly whimper. He was tense again, his own fists clenched against the carpet on the ground and his eyes closed with the courage it took to speak up against the ghost who wanted him dead. He looked up then, meeting Vivi's eyes with a sense of acceptance, almost as though he had played through this dreaded scene a thousand times in his guilty head, "Vivi, he's right. I don't deserve to be listened to, I don't deserve a fair trial, I...I don't deserve anything, and Lewis doesn't owe me the time. I betrayed you and your trust by lying to you all this time, by...by pushing him off the cliff in the first place." His face fell back towards his hands with his voice small and his metal fingers intertwined with his living ones, "I am wrong. I am guilty. I don't deserve redemption, but most of all I don't deserve you. Just get in the van with Lewis and Mystery and drive, leave me here, ditch me. That's what I deserve, to be totally and utterly alone."

Lewis scoffed a little, surprised but not necessarily disappointed by the sudden words of his killer, "At least we can agree on something. Vivi, he doesn't want to be heard! He knows he's guilty, why don't I just put him out of his misery?" He had crossed his arms, one hand lifted matter-of-factly as Arthur gave him the fuel he needed, "It will give me peace, it will give me revenge, and it will keep you safe. If he could stab me in the back so easily after traveling for so long together, what's keeping him from hurting you? A few years? What's preventing him from killing you like he did me, even?"

Those words were filled with so much scorn, hatred with the power to leave Arthur breathless against the wall and feeling as small as an ant from his place on the floor. Then he looked up at Vivi, wondering to himself if maybe that was true. Never in Arthur's life had he thought of hurting her in any way, never had he wanted to make her unhappy or sad or even just uncomfortable-hell, the past two years had been spent on his best attempt to keep her safe. But was he, in some way, hurting her? Was he truly as much of a danger to her as he had been to Lewis, and would his presence lead to her demise? The boy gulped with his face turned away, because he could not look head on into the eyes of whatever truth he found within Lewis' eyes. He could not accept that he was bad for Vivi, because she meant the world to him. 

But he had seen something in her eyes when he had looked up just moments ago. Only once had Arthur seen Vivi truly angry, eight years ago on her sixteenth birthday when her deadbeat dad showed up to try and make amends. He knew she was planning on emancipating the moment the clock hit 7:24 PM that night and, not wanting her to cut all ties with him completely, he had hoped to make things better between the two of them after a record year and a half away from home. When he walked through the door that afternoon, her eyes screamed of cold blooded murder and her voice was as quiet as a moonless night and just as cold as a winter blizzard through the North, her words able to freeze the hottest summer child to a stony death with just the biting of her tongue in restraint. When Arthur had looked back at her, his words confirmed and his fears strengthened by the warm phantom, it was that same anger that he saw in her eyes. Years on the streets had taught her control lest she be shot, ages by herself gave her restraint lest she chase away the only ones who stayed, but she was losing both now as their words wore her thin. With the terrifying power of swelling rage he could feel the room grow several degrees colder in response to her sudden change of character, her transition into an entirely different person. Lewis hadn't yet noticed the slits her eyes had become or the whiteness of her knuckles, the cheeriness of his love turning to deadly wrath as she stared him down and slowly became even more tense with animosity. Her entire existence was devoted now to that commanding grace she had so often hidden, the overwhelming air of demanding brilliance, that even when Lewis did look he shut his mouth and watched her with full attention. Arthur backed off slightly, giving her whatever space he could as she froze the space around them.

"You two don't have a choice. Arthur will tell his side of the story. Lewis will listen. Both of you will comply whether you think you deserve a voice or not, whether you hate each other or not. There is no second choice." She was stiff as a board, her head turning to Arthur slowly and steadily as the two boys' eyes grew wide with fear, "Arthur, go ahead. Tell me what you were going to say out in the lobby, tell me the truth. And for fuck's sake, don't try and lie to get you or Lewis out of trouble, you know damn well you couldn't lie to save your own life."

Arthur's eyes flashed between her and Lewis like a child trapped between warring parents, unsure whether or not he should listen to the murderous skeleton across the room and safely warded of his furious best friend, right next to his vulnerable and fragile body. Either way, he was likely to end up dead, be it physically or emotionally. It wasn't even a competition to him, and with eyes closed he felt rather than heard his trembling voice leave his throat in an escape of breath.

"You saw it happen, didn't you? We entered the cave, we went to the cliff, and then-"

"Give me the details, Arthur. The whole truth."

He glanced only momentarily at Lewis as Vivi coaxed him for more, a shiver running wildly through his body as the ghost sunk into his chair irritably in preparation for the story ahead. His voice hinged on these last words, holding out the syllable a little longer before letting it die out in a sizzle and into the next phrase, "Well, you remember what it was like, right? You and Lewis, the two of you were inseparable. I think...I think you guys thought you were being sneaky about it, like everything was just like it had been before you two totally fell for each other, but...you began leaving me behind. I'd wake up in the middle of the night in the motels and I'd be all alone save Mystery, you two would sit there and talk in the front seats about ghosts and things I couldn't relate to, things I couldn't understand; and then you started to forget about our time together, like the Friday meals. I know it's such a petty thing, but those alone meant the world to me, Vivi." He looked away, his jaw clenched noticeably as he stared at the closed blinds of the window, "I was jealous. I was lonely. I wanted nothing more than to be included, but every time I brought it up you got mad at me. You said that I was getting bent over nothing, that everything was fine and I was being too possessive, but it wasn't like that for me. I liked Lewis, Viv, don't get me wrong-in a way, I needed someone else in my life, someone who I could talk to and joke around with just as I did with you, but who I could pull advice from when I got down or when we weren't doing so great-but I wanted him gone. I wished more than anything that I would wake up one morning and he'd have disappeared, because as long as he was there, I had to share more of you than I could handle. You were no longer my friend-you were our friend."

"And so he pushed me off of a cliff. End of story." Lewis interrupted, but Vivi shot her daggers at him with killing aim and he sat back down with a huff, looking away and refusing eye contact with Arthur. The ginger lifted his robotic arm to run a hand through his hair, inhaling deeply as he prepared himself to go on.

"No that's...that's not it. I never wanted to kill you, Lewis, I just wanted you to go home. I wanted you to grow tired of ghost hunting so that I could have my best friend back, or maybe find that you had to go home to help out with the family business or something, but I never wanted you dead. You see, we came up to the cave and you know how it was, Vivi wanted to go in like always and so we did, me terrified and the two of you jabbering away about how interesting the bats were or something to that effect. I tried to bring up how dangerous it was, the bones all over the floor, the glowing green eyes of all the living shadows, and yet you guys brushed me off as just what I was: a coward. Vivi wanted to go forward, I wanted to go back, and Lewis was too enamored by his lady friend to care." His good hand lifted up to rub his robotic shoulder gingerly, almost as though he could feel the pain from within the cave in those moments, "We split up because of the fork in the path. You went down and I followed Lewis up, but something was...off. My arm was hurting really bad, and I had that sinking feeling in my gut like something bad was going to happen. I tried to tell you, Lewis, I asked you to leave with me, to get out of here, but the view was too nice and you didn't want to listen. And then...and then..."

He felt Vivi's hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see her stone eyes softening and supporting. There was a worried smile on her lips, somewhat strained as though she were trying her best to let go of her earlier rage. He was waiting, pausing on the bad memories to try and put them into words but not quite finding a way with the burning of his eyes and the thickness in his throat, and yet he found her presence soothing now, knowing she had stuck by him so long without abhorrence to stain her bright eyes. How quickly she had changed, how fluid she had grown with the expression of emotion on her face, "It's alright, Arthur. You can do it. Tell us, what happened next."

And so he gulped away that troubling lump and nodded to her, knowing he had to finish this story without leaving it on such a neutral note, "And then I felt something eating at the edge of my mind There were...angry words, a voice telling me that...that I was better than Lewis, that he made a fool out of me, that you'd still rely on me without him there to make me seem worthless. I tried my hardest, Vivi, I swear to god I did, but..." he felt his eyes sting with salt and he closed them best he could to deter the tears, biting his bottom lip hard and clenching the tender inside of his good palm out of habit, "but those words kept coming back. I told them that Lewis was my friend, that you needed someone like him, but as I fought they took me over. I don't know what was in that fog, what monster it was or why, but all I could see was my hand lifted in front of me. It was green, like the fog, it was green and no longer mine to control. I tried so hard...I tried to call out your name, Lewis, to warn you, but my face was numb and the whole left side of my body was taken away from me and I couldn't even...I could only call out your name when it was too late. I was running, and screaming to you, and you were falling, and I was..I was..."

He took another moment to compose himself, the tears running down his face without a sob to accompany them, silent and quick as they sprinted down his cheeks only to fall onto the rough carpet beneath him. Vivi's hand squeezed, a comfort he needed, and with one final breath he continued on. 

"I was still trying to fight it best I could because whatever monster was inside me knew you were there too, Vivi, and it wanted your blood. I tried to follow Lewis off the cliff, tried to bring my own life to an end with the hopes that whatever was inside me would die too, but my vision was cut off and I was...I was totally and utterly possessed. I heard something growling, something else in the fog, something big with re eyes and sharp teeth. It ripped my arm clean off, and then I fell and hit my head on a rock and the next thing I knew I was in the hospital." He finally looked back up into Vivi's eyes, but couldn't handle the empathy within them and found a wave of tears continuing down his face. 

Lewis stared at the ground in astonishment, his hair calmed and his eyes dulling as he fully absorbed Arthur's words. In his fury and bloodlust, in the haze he had bee left in after death, Lewis hadn't really though of any alternative to Arthur simply being a treacherous and horrible man, but as all the pieces came together he felt his own anger ebb away with the pull of a tide. Lewis could remember Arthur's fear, his clear desire to be out of the cave, even his whining over the incredible burning in his arm that Lewis chalked up to be no more than a pesky cramp. Even evident in the screaming of his name, what he had immediately assumed and seen as an act of malice and scorn turned slowly into a call of warning, a cry to save and mourn rather than condemn and taunt. His head fell to his hands in a form of woeful defeat, elbows rested on his knees. Was his death truly more than cold blood and sin, had he been wrong the entire time, and was Lewis truly the bad guy after chasing an innocent man with thoughts on the grave?

"No...Vivi, this isn't...he must be..."

I swear that's the truth, Vivi. I wasn't able to control my envy, I wasn't strong enough to fight my own thoughts when the monster turned it against me and...and that killed Lewis. I killed Lewis, it's all my fault, I should have been stronger." Arthur interjected, choking on the loudness of his words as the crackling within them was hardly concealed. As he finished, as he concluded his bits of honesty, he doubled over himself with regret. This was what Vivi remembered, the guilt that opened the flood gates and swept her best friend up in a flood that reduced him to no more than a sniffling mess of wet cheeks and runny noses. Her knees buckled beneath her and she folded her legs below her torso so that she might envelop Arthur in a full hug, he warmth surrounding him entirely. She had feared he would be all that Lewis claimed, that her best friend was so possessive that he was willing to kill in order to keep her, and yet he was so riddled with remorse now that she doubted he had ever had it in him to even swat at a fly let alone murder his only other friend. He was still her Arty, her brother, and as Lewis tried to rationalize Arthur still being evil she was more than busy trying to calm her tearful ginger down.

"It can't be true, he's lying, I know it! He's just trying to displace the guilt, he's just making himself out to be the victim so that you sympathize, that can't be the truth! Don't you think that, if there had really been a demon in the cave, I would have sensed it once I came back from the dead? I lived there for two years, right above my deathbed. He's lying to you, Vivi, and you're falling for it!"

He pointed an accusatory finger, but Lewis could feel his argument falter and drift away before it even left his lips. Part of him could see on the clear and unmuddied face of Arthur that everything he said was fact, his brain seconding those feelings, but his heart still held onto the dying rage and wasn't planning on letting go anytime soon. He had been brought back to life by his hatred before his love, he had risen from the cave to claim Arthur's life, how could the basis of his existence be a lie? Lewis couldn't accept it, wouldn't take the veracity of his words, and so he was met once again with the cold gaze of Vivi and that sinking sensation of her fully forsaking him in those moments.

Arthur had recoiled at Lewis' extended finger, hiding his face from Lewis in the softness of Vivi's sweater as he continued to cry loudly now. Having laid his down his heart and soul, after exposing his deepest and darkest vulnerabilities and secrets, it took too much for the ginger to retain any control. He had been torn down, denied the legitimacy of his pure words, and with every added hiccup and sniffle he could feel Vivi grow to immense and terrible heights. She wasn't taking Lewis' repudiation very well, and as he continued on in vain, she rose to her feet with a protective hand placed over Arthur.

"Come on, Vivi, look at him. He even admitted that it was his fault, that he deserves whatever comes to him! What innocent man judges himself guilty? Who condemns them self when they have no regrets to pay for? He;s dangerous. He's traitorous. He's-"

"Shut up!"

She screamed it, the top of her lungs not good enough as her voice rang out like police siren. Lewis blanched, stepping back and tripping over the armchair as she began to approach him, short legs quick and arms sweeping as she veered to the side of the ward and slammed her hands down hard on the little desk at the end of her bed, diverting her physical anger onto the old and dirty wood. Her entire body bristled, the hair on her arms raised and tingling in excited response, her shoulders raised like hackles as she bore her teeth into the mirror in front of her, poorly adorned and falling apart. She could sense Lewis preparing to speak again in response, but she wasn't ready to listen with the metal still on her tongue. Her nails dug into the soft wood beneath, and as his voice began tiny and unsure, she swung around with her eyes a tumultuous ocean and body held ferally, no longer woman but wild beast.

"Shut your fucking mouth, I don't want to hear your voice. I don't even want to look at you. Just...stop it, Lewis. Just stop."

Vivi had never yelled at him, especially like this. He wasn't used to the anger of the joyful summer child, her mind forever floating on the sunny pools of a California scorcher, unaccustomed to her hatred when she had so often drowned all she knew and loved in smiles and kindness. It was shocking and utterly debilitating, the fury of a generous and passive woman, and Lewis wasn't sure he liked it at all. Slowly he could feel his stunned silence fill with a new form of anger, a bitterness towards the one he loved, a biting and fierce response to her blatant disrespect and unwillingness to hear his words. Why was she angry at him, the dead man, her betrayed teammate? He felt his own eyes squint, glaring at her as she bent back over the desk and began to shake her head with hair hanging down limply around her. His own fists clenching the arm of the seat beneath him hard, he could feel his heart burst with a scornful passion, "Vivi, you have a choice."

She didn't even look over at him, the pausing of her swinging head the only sign that she had even heard him as it halted and posed still over the desk. She didn't say a word, but Lewis could feel her attention on him like a scorching ray of limelight even if he lacked the vocal cues.

"It's all up to you. Either you can take his words for truth and drive off into the sunset with my murderer and pretend I never existed, just as you did before, faking that Arthur never hurt a soul and is some innocent sunflower without a seed of darkness or guilt and leave me behind to waste away in my mansion, all alone, or we can head up a different path. You can come with me. Vivi, you and I could make a new life, we could find a way to survive even if I'm like this, we can be happy together. But you can't have both of us, not like this." He was callous, his voice monotone and listless as it floated to her ears, "A traitor, or a lover. It's your choice, no one else's."

It didn't take much of thought on Vivi's part, really, and as she pushed herself up and away from the desk her heavy feet pulled her steadily along like a deadly march on snare, all the way back to Arthur. As she had told him many times before, this situation wasn't black and white, wrong or right, loyal or traitor, it was a game of grey. She thought back to Lewis' wintry denouncement of anyone who murdered someone innocently, his inability to see the grey and the accidents and exceptions that came with such a touchy topic as death. She thought of his unwillingness to listen, his abhorrence of an open mind and his stubbornness when faced with a likely alternative, and then she looked at Arthur. He had accepted her throughout her life for what she was, he had been gifted her truths and had in turn deemed her good, had looked upon her shadows and called them blindingly bright, and trusted her even when she forced him to spill his guts to a vengeful spirit thirsty for blood. He had been possessed, he had been guilty, and Vivi wasn't about to overlook the honesty within his eyes. Wings thrown back and halo shining, Vivi faced Lewis defiantly with her answer apparent on her body.

"Each and every time, I will choose Arthur."

The ginger let out a breath he hadn't noticed he had been holding in the first place, releasing his anxieties as she protected him from the judging glare of Lewis once more. He could hear the ghost sputter, eyes widening before they were forced shut tightly in angry silence and burning treachery when faced with a scenario he thought impossible, or at the very least unlikely. The ghost looked back up to find the stone cold Vivi tearful yet determined, pain clear on her face as she was torn in two and forced to assign her whole self a loyalty, pressured to claim a side in an argument she felt unjust in the first place.

"Arthur is my brother, Lewis. Before you even glimpsed my heart he was there with fingers wrapped around it, he was by my side, holding my hand and helping me along a path I didn't even think was possible for someone like me. For the scum of the city, the rats in the alley. He knows my darkest caverns, and even if I've done unspeakable things, he has trusted me. No matter what, Arthur looked at me and knew I was worth fighting for." She blinked, letting a rush of river water cascade from her lashes, "I was set for a life of crime and deception and sin, desperation and destruction that you couldn't even know ran so deep in our small town. You wouldn't be able to comprehend the surface of it, Lewis, and he looked at one simple act of kindness and deemed me an angel, a guardian, a savior. For the longest time, he was all I had to rely on."

She paused once more, taking a moment to fully compose herself as her words floated on top of the room. Never could Arthur ever conceive that Vivi had in any way felt as reliant on him as much as he did her, and the words that escaped from her in a deluge of pent up emotion brought a warmth to the edge of his mouth, the beating of his bandaged heart. Even Lewis, so bent on his hatred that he could not see the truth in Arthur's tears, had lowered his head in a sense of understanding, even if that acceptance was pined and laborious.

"I would never expect you to choose me over Perla, or Marisol, or your mother or father. And if you truly love me, you will accept that I will always choose Arthur, each and every time."

She watched Lewis closely now, studying the stillness of the phantom as he absorbed her choice fully, his form slowly fading in and out of existence with her loyalties made clear. Even with his tether so physically close by, with Vivi only feet away from him, he felt as though the two were dimensions apart. He could have been in the realm of ghosts and wouldn't have noticed the difference. His hand rested above his beating heart out of age old habit, his vessel crying out with the picture held and protected within burning the glass and giving him the utmost pain. He felt those last moments as what he truly was, a ghost, and his body began to mimic the loss of heart that came with the acceptance of transparency. His voice, when it finally did rise, was no louder than a wayward feather lost on the tumbling wind.

"...Fine."


	19. To Paint Her Canvas Skin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing tears Vivi apart more than seeing the people she loves more than life fighting each other to such ends. Nothing tears her apart more than having to chose. Most of all, nothing tears her apart more than putting her foot down and making a decision, especially when she knows it is reckless and stupid and dangerous.  
> But what can you do when the man you love and the brother you need aren't listening to your pleas?  
> The only thing holding them together is her, and that can be easily taken away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY a version of the chapter that didn't delete itself!   
> Again, so sorry for the wait. Hopefully this won't happen again, I'll be looking into why my computer is deleting files like it is. I don't always have access to the internet and so I can't always back it up there, but I'll see if I can find a flash drive to back up the files, maybe make more than two copies of each chapter in the hopes that I can keep them safe.   
> Otherwise, enjoy chapter 19!

To say the least, the playfulness of Vivi's X-Files ringtone didn't exactly fit the scene very well.

It was a splash of neon paint on a somber medieval masterpiece, a patch of rough and worn sandpaper resting among the richest of velvet, and it was something distracting that pulled their attention away from the exhausting, diverted glances and crackling tension surrounding the team. It came to be with the whispering of their arguments paused and their love of each other wavering, forcing Lewis to flare in surprise and Arthur to jump. The soft buzzing of a vibrating phone and the loud and eerie whistling from the old TV show broke their focus and turned them all towards Vivi's overnight bag in shocked curiosity, ripping them from their personal sorrows momentarily to stand transfixed. For some reason, all three of the team members were relieved for the excuse to look away from each other.

Vivi began to rummage through her bag, somewhat embarrassed, throwing cords and games and notepads aside as she searched for the little flip phone inside the abyss of her bag. Arthur glanced up at Lewis, for a moment terrified without Vivi's protection, but found the ghost too lost in thought to even acknowledge the ginger anymore, too focused on the recent outcome of his unfair pressure to glance his way. Clearly, the phantom wasn't feeling so great after the girl he loved had chosen his confirmed murderer over him when given the choice, and Lewis couldn't seem to figure it out in his head. Was it simply a question of if she loved him or not, or did he truly deserve it? Was he being irrational, belligerent, selfish...should he try and listen to the two of them despite him being the victim?

But then, if he had been wrong about Arthur, that meant...

"Hello, Vivi of the Mystery Skulls. How can I help?"

She had found the phone, clearly, nestled and hidden in one of the many side pockets and away from the grabbing of her hands. Flipped open, Lewis could see now that the device she held was their old work phone, the phone number they used for clients and clients only, not the personal phone as he had originally assumed by the ringtone; Vivi must have changed the song when he had been away from the Ghostbuster's theme to what she had now. He wondered what else had changed in the two years that he'd been gone, what other little parts of her life were no longer relatable to his living memories.

"Of course, can you give me any information on the situation whatsoever? Yes, anything helps, even the tiniest details."

She had pulled out her old notepad, pens organized by color to denote which entries within her book were client detail, later research, or hunt summaries. Her hand moved furiously down the page, sloppy handwriting quick to record the information gifted to her, and her little voice muttering in focused confirmation of every little fact. By how much she was writing and how pale she was looking, Arthur and Lewis could only guess that it was quite a gargantuan case that she was taking on. As she continued, Lewis looked away.

What should he do now? Vivi had made her stance clear, showing who she supported blindly and who she didn't trust enough to, who she had to question in order to accept and who she believed to always be honest. He could just go back to the mansion, he supposed, live out what little life he had left before the pull of the void became too much and he was forced to fall into a restless sleep, a tossing slumber for the rest of eternity. Without his final duty fulfilled, he would never find true peace, but was that what was best for the girl he had partially come back for in the first place, the girl he loved so much, was that what would make her happy in the end? An eternity is a long time to spend alone, and he knew Vivi wouldn't be caught in hell with him.

"Alright, we'll be down in a couple hours. Take care and keep safe until then."

Vivi flipped the phone shut, the snapping of the metal like the breaking of a neck as she turned back towards the two boys waiting patiently for her. She proceeded to cross her arms and lean heavily on one leg, still somewhat lost in thought and trying to maintain her air of authority as she turned back to the unruly boys with a proposition of grave subject. Notepad set down on the beside table and face somewhat upset by the recent chatter, this clearly wasn't going to be your everyday hunt.

"Two bits of information, you two. Do you guys remember those investigators we met when we were just starting out, the sisters who gave us all their spare equipment and who taught us how to read it and stuff?"

"Yeah, the Sydney sisters, right?" Arthur answered back, the picture of the two teens clear in his head after more than a few encounters with the friendly couple. They had been hunting with their father since before they had entered junior high and had been quite talented by the time the Mystery Skulls had met them. Every miniscule piece of information gathered from the two had been put to good use and had saved the team in quite a few instances, Arthur could vouch for that.

"Well, they're dead."

Lewis perked up with this, looking back at Vivi for the first time since she had made her choice, spooked by the prospect of the young and talented womans' deaths. He lifted a hand to cover the back of his head, his flame long out and his skull bare as he shook it lightly back and forth in quick mourning, "What happened?"

Vivi inhaled quickly, "They were called out to take out an angry poltergeist who very promptly set them on fire, along with two other investigation teams. Not a great way to go. And so that brings us to my next bit of information, something neither of you are going to like very much."

Arthur could feel what was coming long before she said anything, standing up shakily like a fawn on newborn legs. He knew that look on the face of the girl he had chosen to grow up with, and how could she possible turn down an opportunity when many others had failed? He could feel himself shiver as he imagined every path this day could take, "Dear god, Vivi, what did you get us into?"

"Not what I got us into. What I got myself into."

Arthur was flushed, his eyes closed and his teeth clenched as Lewis began to catch onto what she was trying to say, what she was implying to the two. He looked back at her with his thoughts towards the dead banished, hoping he could convince her not to join them anytime soon, "Vivi, you couldn't possibly mean..."

"Yes, I do mean. Our client has called upon us last of many to dismiss an ages old poltergeist. Apparently, all the other teams they have called have tried and failed to calm down the spirit, but it has the nasty habit of fatally wounding them, usually in the form of fire. I'm going, no matter what you two say." She was still practicing her control over the two boys, taking control and holding on tight without any room to wiggle out, her voice a brick wall while Arthur and Lewis lacked a cannon, "You gave me a choice, Lewis, and now I give you two a fork in the path. Either both of you can come with me, or neither. I will only let you in the van with me if if both of you are in agreement to tolerate each other, and only then. Otherwise, I'm doing this all by myself."

Arthur shook his head, eyes wide as he turned back towards her frantically, "More than one team-as in multiple people-have died trying to calm down this poltergeist. You'll get yourself killed on the spot, Vivi! Is that what you want, a good old suicide mission to bring the team back together again?"

"No." She was still stern, still terrifying, "Do you know what I want? My two best friends back, not these wimps who replaced them. But the two of you are too wrapped up in yourselves to even try and attempt that, so I'm turning drastic, dangerous. If that's the only way to get you both to agree on something, then so be it."

She was tossing things into her bag now, leaving only her notepad and a few pens out as she began shuffling through the belongings she had left out in the motel. Lewis watched her very closely, feeling his own heart tremble just as Arthur was against the door, "Vivi, this is not in anyway a good idea. The Sydney sisters were raised on ghost hunting, and I'm sure the other teams were just as experienced as well-we're babies compared to them! Even with Arthur and I, this might be a little outside of our skill level. You'll just end up getting both of you killed."

Her hands still moved in and out of the bag, her head down as she continued to pick up around the motel, "I'm going, and that's final." Vivi's feet found their way to Lewis, her toes just barely outside of the ward as she looked up at him expectantedly, "Now, I'll let you both out. I want you to remember that if you hurt Arthur in any way, you will never see me again, Lewis. I will break the tether on my palms and let you go back to the mansion and never show my face again if you even think about putting him in a situation that will endanger him." Her foot ran across the chalk of the ward, and it began to fade in the carpet until it was eventually gone, "And then all three of us will be alone and miserable. Are you coming or not?"

Lewis, not surprised, took a tender step out of his ward, testing the air outside gently with a swipe of his hands before he let himself truly be free, "Vivi, I have to go. So long as we're far far from the mansion and you have that sharpie on your palms, I have to be nearby you. Otherwise, I think I'll fade away for good."

She had her back turned to him in order to keep their eyes from meeting, knowing that her stubborness would falter the moment she let him gaze upon her head on. Her eyes instead met Arthur's, observing him closely, "Well, then, you better hope our friend Arthur here wants to go, too, or else we'll be making a quick stop at the mansion, now won't we?"

Nobody spoke, nobody moved, it was still within the room as Arthur looked at the two like a deer in the headlights choosing between the car barreling towards them and an endless pit. This was an angry poltergeist they were talking about right now, not some confused spirit who took a wrong turn on his way to the light; poltergeists killed,and Arthur had just about enough fear of death to last him for more than a lifetime. He looked at Lewis, his eyes pleading him in a sort of begrudging way, knowing he would be separated from Vivi otherwise. Speaking of Vivi, the way she was glaring at him wasn't exactly inviting: she looked just about ready to shoot both of them and whatever other poor souls that got in her way, something he wasn't exactly looking forward to. Once again, Arthur's choices weren't exactly orthodox or easy.

She opened the door then, walking over briskly as she no longer waited for an answer from her best friend as she fished the keys out of her bag and began to leave towards the parking lot and the van. It took Arthur a moment to notice that she was preparing to leave him behind, and by the time he reached out to stop her she already had a foot out the door, "Vivi, wait!"

"Arthur, you can't convinve me otherwise. I'm going, with or without you-"

"With." He finally groaned, loud and low and slow, his grip on her arm tightening with the words before he began to straighten himself out, the wrinkles in his favorite vest worrying, "Just give me a moment to pack my stuff, I kind of made a mess last night, what with me not sleeping."

Now, she had that big smile again, her face turning soft and mushy as she was given what she wanted, the entirety of what she had asked for slowly and surely coming together. The corners of her eyes softened, and her body began to relax underneath the grip of her best friend. She gave him a slight nod of approval and acceptance, and the three began to head towards Arthur's room.

Upon opening the door to Arthur's motel room, Mystery came bursting through like a bat fresh out of hell. There was a flurry of fur as he tried to jump up and onto both Arthur and Vivi simultaneously, whining the entire time as a balloon allowed only a small and steady stream of air to escape from its mouth with both excitement and frustration as his owners came back. They were quite a few hours late in his opinion, and he never really liked being alone in the first place despite the regular necessity of it. Vivi could tell he felt left out whenever they had to leave him in the motel room to grab breakfast or in the van to meet or treat clients who were allergic or scared, and she hated leaving him almost as much as the dog hated being left. The little nips he gave the two were a sure sign to Vivi that he wasn't all that happy about it, but every bit of his peeved emotions rolled off once he spotted the skeleton, hidden from his view at first by Vivi. 

What began as a whirlwind of angry and thrilled dog quickly turned south, his whines growing silent with only a thin and long growl to fill the air between him and the one he was confronting. His eyes were flashing, bright and red as the dying embers of a campfire, as he took a step towards the dead man. He was clearly shielding Arthur like a guard dog, his body turned side ways and his attention never leaving the pale skull before him in clear memory of the night before. Vivi could swear that she saw some sort of crimson light wrapping tendrils around the dog, darkening the air as she felt him grow slowly bigger and bigger with each feral breath escaping his bared teeth and that killing intuition that her simple pet was becoming so much more. She suddenly realized, breaking free from her transfixed state, that her dog was threatening Lewis, and so she ran towards Mystery with arms raised and waving above her head in an attempt to divert the animal's attention away from the phantom he so clearly distrusted.

"No, Mystery, it's alright! He's not going to try and kill Arthur anymore, buddy, we'll all be fine! You don't have to growl all low and scary like that, not anymore."

The dog took quite some time to tear his eyes away from the spirit in front of him, only glancing briefly back up at the girl before allowing his bristled fur to lie flat and his burning eyes to dull their luster. It wasn't that he couldn't recall or make the connection between this ghost and his third companion years ago, Vivi could see that; he just wanted to protect Arthur, and after the happenings of the night before he certainly wasn't at ease around Lewis. Even with the hackles of the dog lowered, Lewis could feel the eyes of the canine like bullets into the back of his neck, piercing through his bones and into the marrow beneath. In no way or in any instance was he trusted, and he couldd feel the hostility flashing from the dog like a bright, neon red sign. He doubted the hell he'd have to pay to Vivi's dog and the last member of the Mystery Skulls was worth his revenge in the end.

 

 

"Nuh-uh, only Mystery gets to ride in the front with me. You two, in the back."

Arthur was stopped in his tracks by a pale hand to his good shoulder, five digits wrapping around the puffed up collar of his vest as his forward motion was halted suddenly. After packing up the van in the near empty parking lot surrounding them, the ginger had naturally made his way to the driver's seat with the assumption that he would drive as he almost always did, but that clearly wasn't on the girl's agenda as Vivi continued to micromanage the gang. She gestured with a hand towards the back and Lewis, standing a little ways off and looking at the van longingly before she opened the door to the front and allowed Mystery VIP access. Even if their haunt was only an hour away tops, Arthur could sense that it was going to be a long ride.

Lewis, not even attempting the front seat with the knowledge that Vivi was still more than a little peeved at him, was stunned not by her treatment of Arthur but by what he found in the back of the van. He wasn't so much staring at the vehicle itself as the others assumed, but the interior more so, his eyes scanning the ruin and wreckage that had become of his old home. Lewis knew that Arthur had always left a mess wherever he went, throwing empty energy drink cans on the floor of their beloved van and claiming to have intentions of picking them up later, but with no real actions on those simple and easy words. With this, Lewis could expect at least a little bit of clutter. But Vivi...she had always been alright with keeping her living spaces tidy and neat, if not as painstakingly so as Lewis. The explosion that was the back of the Mystery Skulls van left Lewis breathless, a pebble damming his throat, and his voice was nearly so high that only Mystery could hear it.

"What...what happened?"

Arthur had already climbed in, stepping over the towering piles of books that dared him to tip them over after somehow, miraculously, not toppling over during the many roadtrips the three had taken in the past, "Oh, this?" Vivi looked back in the rearview mirror, adjusting her glasses and the mirrors to fit her short stature as opposed to Arthur's slightly taller torso, "We kinda let it get out of hand, I know. I was always reading, and Arthur was always driving, and it got cluttered real fast I guess. Sorry, we can always clean it up."

The skeleton had to look away it disgusted him so much, his old home turned into nothing more than a pigpen, "Jesus, guys, I lived with five siblings who were all younger than me and our house was never as bad as the back of this van. How did you even manage this by yourselves?"

Arthur waved it off, still somewhat rigid as he spoke to the man who wanted his head on a stake, "It's been two years. 'Lots happened." He kicked his feet up onto a stack of duffel bags, all filled with clothes spilling out. Lewis couldn't tell if they were dirty or clean, but he couldn't imagine they did their laundry very often, either.

Vivi nodded in agreement with Arthur, patting Mystery lazily as she waited for Lewis to get in, "When I started really reading your grandma's books and all the other information we had from before the cave, I put them away and kept everything organized really nicely and consistently. But then, when I'd reread a book and find a passage that connected to something from another book, I'd just have to go back and search through the journals and chapters and notes and find the things I was looking for...before I knew what was happening, I was surrounded by a circle of journals! And that was before I started truly translating your grandma's diaries, let me tell you..."

After swallowing that pebble and considering the situation slightly, Lewis braced himself and climbed into the back of the van and onto what little floor he could find peaking out from beneath the second-hand books and granola bar wrappers. If he had a lip, he would have no doubt curled it in disgust, “All of her diaries are in Spanish I thought. Did you take some lessons while I was away?”

She shook her head, starting the car as Lewis finally sat down on a clearing he made on the seat, his wide stature not fitting in so well with the cluttered space surrounding him, “Not exactly. I took it in high school for two years, so I know some conversational, but I was never really good. But what I did have was a Spanish-English dictionary and a lot of determination, not to mention a killing amount of time on my hands.”

Her fingers reached down, popping on the radio as she finished her little explanation in the hopes that she'd find something to calm down her still jumping nerves, her fearless soul turning to mush as she continued to ponder the hunt ahead. Lewis watched as a genuine smile crept up onto her face, bobbing her head back and forth as she drove forward steadily onto the freeway beneath them and cleared her mind of the arguments earlier today. Honestly, the most soothing and relaxing thing in the world was driving for Vivi, and she could let go of just about anything so long as she had control of the radio. Arthur, who had been watching Lewis carefully since entering the van, responded to her cue by letting his guard down to grab his 3DS with the intention of shutting out the world around him, and with it, the chance of confrontation with the murderous ghost who was sitting only a seat away from him. Each had found their little voids with which to fill their time with even Mystery curling up to take a nap beside Vivi, and so with nothing else to do, the ghost found his own way to be useful. It may not be the chatter he so fondly remembered, but there was something soothing in tidying up around the van and transforming it back into the home he had once remembered, too. 

He was more than a little relieved to find that nothing within the van was toxic or dangerous save Arthur's startling knife collection. It seemed Vivi had kept that up at least, preventing week-old pizza slices from smelling up the whole car or aging breakfast sandwiches from reaching anywhere close to a moldy state with most consumables stored safely in a mini-fridge that was new to the phantom, held steady in the back. Most of the clutter was, as he expected, cans and books with a few articles of clothing scattered around. It was easy enough to organize neatly, and the small space meant there wasn't nearly as much on the floor as he had assumed in the first place-by thirty minutes into their ride, it was nearly spotless with only the remnants of chip crumbs and a couple garbage bags filled to the brim to mark it dirty.

As he stood over his handiwork, relieved and a little bit proud, Vivi began to turn down the radio with the intention of merging off the highway and entering a more urban area, "Hey, could you two maybe search for some info in the books back there on poltergeists? I know about the universal stuff-sage and salt, etcetera-but maybe your grandma had something more specific to help us out?" Vivi asked, beginning to think forward to the hunt, "This one sounded pretty nasty, any upper hand we have will be well needed."

It was reluctantly that Arthur began to power down his game, only just coming to forget of the hunt and the chattering of his teeth that came with it as she brought his nightmares back to light. Lewis, on the other hand, switched from one task to the next flawlessly, only glancing momentarily at Arthur as he set his game to rest on the cushion beside him. The ginger's voice was a groan, but at least he wasn't downright refusing this time.

"You know I'm not a very good researcher, Viv. Any leads for me on choosing the perfect match, book-wise, so I don't waste anymore of our time?"

"Well," Vivi knitted her eyebrows, thinking long and hard as she switched lanes with a flash towards her blind spot, "I think one of the really late journals of Lewis' grandma's had something on a nasty one, number twenty or twenty-one I think? It was a lot later on, in April of...1987, I wanna say? That sounds about right, somewhere around there. Very bad, just like this if I remember. Think you can find it?"

Lewis looked back up at Vivi, wide-eyed,"Geez, V, did you get photographic memory while I was gone? I don't even remember that much detail about her diaries, and I'm her grandson.” Lewis butted in playfully, rummaging through one of the boxes filled with journals. To his relief, Vivi had taken very good care of his grandmother's books, and all of them were still in one piece and well organized.

"What can I say, it was the only thing that felt really right to me." She answered back with attention back towards the road and a little grin skirting her cheeks, "Once I lost my memory, those books were like...little peaks into the past, but they weren't forcefed to me by someone else. I was remembering stories and hunts, not having them remembered for me. I must have read each book a hundred times each by now, Isabel-I mean, your grandma-was such an amazing and brave woman. It doesn't even feel like research anymore, it feels like a storybook."

Lewis smiled at this, handing Arthur the journal Vivi translated reluctantly while keeping the original for himself. He read Spanish fluently having been raised in a household where it was spoken often; English was technically his second language, anyway. The pages were heavy with text and the cursive was hard to decipher as it was fading and blue upon the yellowing and brittle pages, but he was still able to scan the pages with ease once his eyes adjusted. Just as he always had, Lewis felt that his grandmother's writing was the most beautiful script in the world, and just absorbing her words felt like a peak into the gates of heaven.

"I think I have something here, Vivi. Her twenty-thrid journal, just about the time you said," Lewis, caught by surprise as he found the date he was looking for, began to summarize the text as quickly as he could read and think, "a stage five poltergeist, the worst you can get. Prone to set things on fire, throw knives, and inflict other forms of bodily harm without any objects present."

Vivi could hear Arthur gulp, setting his book down as her grip tightened on the wheel with a rush of pre-adrenaline. That sounded exactly like what they were facing, a copy of the poltergeist explained to her over the phone. She hoped against all hope that there was something there that would help them out if even only a little, "What else? Any hints on how to bring this sucker down?"

Lewis shook his head a little, "The hunt went on for three days, but she was unable to dismiss it and dubbed it too dangerous. This thing made rocks fall out of nowhere, set ten people on fire, and tore a few others to smithereens without any trouble, without even acknowledging her attempts to undermine it. In the end, she covered the house in salt, sage, and gasoline before angering the ghost to the point of setting his own house on fire." He looked back up, his voice a little slower than before as he tried to absorb it himself, "It must have worked, because she put in a sidenote that the new building on the lot afterwards was average enough. I guess the poltergeist learned its lesson, so we have that as a last resort."

Vivi was biting her lip, preoccupied with driving but still actively worried about the possible outcomes of the hunt ahead. Even Lewis' hatred of Arthur and bits of self-pity had died away with all his attention focused on keeping the job from getting out of hand for fear that he might lose Vivi for good this time, and if he was willing to put that aside, she began to wonder if maybe she should put this crazy flight aside. She was usually so confident in her abilities...would they let her down now?

"V, I understand ghosts a little better now that I am one. Let me tell you, when I tried to cook with salt for the first time and a little bit spilled onto my foot after I died, the pain was so excruciating. It took days for that to wear off, and just a little bit of it was enough to leave a pretty sore spot afterwards. With that being said, after continued exposure to it I could tolerate the pain more and more. It's safe to assume that this poltergeist is older than me, and they've definitely seen more ghost investigation squads than I have; all of which, I assume, have been hostile. And with power, which we know they have, comes a greater resistance to weaknesses such as sage or prayer. The best route for a poltergeist is just to ignore them. Let their attempts at gaining attention go unnoticed. It will drive them crazy, but they'll leave after a decade or so without any real excitement." He was trying his best to lead her away from the hunt, his fears only fueled by his grandmother's recounting of the tale from the guise of a paper journal. In her instances, two of her brothers-also ghost hunters, also very talented-had been killed in the process of banishing the poltergeist, "This might be something we can do nothing about, and I'd rather not risk you dying over a chance."

She was looking slightly angered again, but it wan't so much at Lewis but at the thought that she was truly second guessing herself. In a war of rationale and curiosity, she felt logic and reason winning, and she honestly didn't like it one bit. Where was the fun in that? She stared at the ghost through the mirror again with Mystery's and Arthur's eyes boring holes into the back of her head, "I've said it before and I'll say it again, Lewis: retreat isn't an option in this case." Eyes back on the road, she tried to convince herself more than anyone else that this was true as she took a deep breath to calm her nerves, "If worse comes to worse, Arthur and I have insurance and the client has agreed to pay for any other damages. If you stop trying to convince me to turn around and start looking for some more useful information yourself, I'll have a lot better chance at living through this, too."

What Lewis didn't see was the turmoil within rolling her around on a tumultuous ocean. There were parts of Vivi that wanted to be stubborn and unbending, parts of her that were obstinant and unwavering in their steadfast hold of her, but then the rest was screaming that Lewis was right. More than anything, she was no longer frustrated at her team mates, but at herself for growing so cowardly in the face of danger. Vivi didn't like the feeling of fear that was pushing through her, and she tried her best to straighten herself up as her voice bit back at them.

Lewis, taking Vivi's obstinance for cockiness, could feel himself grow warm with flustered heat. He looked away from her and began reading over the text again, but to no avail save a poltergeist-specific prayer in Latin that he was very unsure of. Nothing made sense, and nothing that he read was in the slightest bit helpful or reassuring, all having been proved by his grandma to be no more than bogus. Even Arthur, tasked with tying the sage and managing the salt with Lewis unable to handle either comfortably, was growing frantic with his quick and sloppy movements leading to quite a bit of salt-covered area that Lewis could not traverse. The poor ginger could feel the tension of Lewis' worry as well as a bloodhound on the trail of an arrogant fox, and he wasn't looking forward to the night ahead one bit. Lewis may have been a stranger to him now, but he remembered from the year they spent together that if Lewis was scared, then he sure as hell should be, too.

That's when they came upon it, a well used house built upon quite a few acres of land and well away from any neighborhood or city yet cautioned off sloppily with yellow tape and warning signs. It couldn't have been very old by its lack of disrepair and overall newer appearance, no older than Vivi or Lewis or Arthur themselves, but they didn't outage it by much. Only when Vivi stopped beside the broken and open gate did the boys in the back register it as their new haunt, so ordinary and simple as it rose from the slightly untrimmed and abandoned grass surrounding it, and with this came the racing of their hearts as they readied to bolt into a full on sprint. Even Vivi had to gulp down that dull beating in the back of her throat. This was it, possibly their resting place, some mini-mansion in the middle of nowhere and so far from anything they held dear save each other.

"So...here we are."

Vivi looked back at Arthur as he squeaked a little, his voice high-pitched and terrified as he absentmindedly crushed the dried sage in his tremoring hands. Lewis, too, was not exactly ecstatic about the adventure ahead, and it was with great slowness and steadiness that he closed and placed the journal in his hands back into the box. From the outside and despite the yellow tape, there was nothing wrong with the house, but everyone was put at least a little bit on edge with the fear that engulfed each individually. Even Mystery's tail had stopped wagging by the time Vivi found the nerve to open the door and step out, leading her boys like old times if under different circumstances.

"You got the supplies ready?" She questioned from the back of the van, opening it up to find the two still looking out at the house across the lawn without moving a muscle or even breathing. It was eerily silent, and Vivi continued to ponder whether she should truly continue on with this. She was shaking, but without her team behind her, she felt utterly powerless, "Reading devices are up and running, right?"

"You won't need them. I'm a ghost, Vivi, it'll be more than easy for me to sense another presences. Just...give me a moment to...prepare myself."

He was opening and closing his hands tightly, eyes no longer glowing as they dulled and and absorbed her appearance in the doorway gravely. In the time they had traveled, he had been just as curious as she was with every hunt, a solid foundation for her wonder to build upon, and yet with this...there were so many layers to this haunt, so many possibilities, and she had to admit that most of them ended in death no matter how many times she walked those paths. Vivi was determined to prove her point, yes, but she had to wonder if she was suicidal also. This was quite the undertaking, something she probably wouldn't walk away from unscathed if at all. Even Lewis' protection might not be enough to keep her safe. And then she looked at Arthur, his eyes so wide and trembling in the face of destruction that she had to pause even further to absorb him, remember every aspect of her best friend. Lewis would no doubt try and protect her from harm, but, in the face of danger, would he protect Arthur or watch him burn? Should she even bring the ginger along now that he had proved himself willing and open to tolerating Lewis?

"Let's just get this over with." Arthur muttered, his voice cold as his face turned to stone. Now he was determined, his hands wrapped tightly around the supplies with a backpack gripping his shoulders, "Let's head in there and get this done as quickly as we can. I want to get my pay and leave."

And so she lead her three boys across the yellow tape and along the edge of the yard and into the house, unlocked and waiting for them like a death sentence and just as hated and feared as one. Lewis and Arthur were filled with so much dread, even Vivi felt in her heart the doubt of her and their abilities, but something inside her masked that with a familiar curiosity that kept her head forward. There was a mystery ahead, something she could solve and pick apart, and is that not what she lived for in the first place? What was life if she denied her simplest wishes in order to survive?

Arthur was holding his breath, hiding slightly behind Vivi as they entered the darkened room before them with the flaring of Lewis' hair in response to the lighting. The house had to be three stories at least, large and well-made with an entry hall encompassing quite a few square feet. The floor was wood, the walls a warm orange with highlights of red and brown, and yet everywhere she looked Vivi could see only the remainder of flame. Scorch marks on the walls and scratched across the portraits painted a fine scene in front of her, and the screaming of her intuition didn't help calm her nerves much. In this situation, maybe it was better to run.

Despite her fears, Lewis had his head held high, searching with his eyes closed as though scanning with a monitor built into the back of his eyelids. One perk of being a ghost was the ability to sense other spirits without much trouble if any, and as he held a hand out to Vivi with the intention of leading her further into the haunt before them, he was surprised that he felt no more presence than a stage three poltergeist at max. He relaxed a little bit, feeling his worry rush away upon the slight breeze running through the near empty house as he let out a little sigh, "Come on, this way. I feel them strongest at the end of the hall. You sure we have all the stuff, right?"

Vivi nodded, taking his hand without a word and allowing him to lead her along as he began to float forward cautiously. Only the creaking of Vivi, Arthur, and Mystery's feet on the wooden floors beneath gave away any life in the house, and all was silent to the team as they entered the room across from them, a large and sweeping living area with a kitchen joined by a bar area. It was quaint, and it was nearly empty.

Upon entrance, it was clear that there was a draft as the place was many degrees colder than anywhere else in the house, not to mention drastically darker. Vivi searched around for a reason, finding that all the windows were black with an ash that condemned the space to a constant state of dusk without any natural light to seep in. The gashes in the walls were much deeper and more numerous in this room with splashes of copper and red outlining them, dry and chipping off. Some form of cutlery must have gouged deeply past the wallpaper, leaving the house with permanent scars. Vivi could see her foggy breath as it left her lungs. Mystery was growling, long and low again, his eyes red and blazing. It was eerie, and Vivi had a sneaking suspicion that this was the room where many other teams had met their ends.

“The family must have moved as much furniture and belongings as they could, but it doesn't look like they finished.” Lewis entered the silence reluctantly, gesturing to the still set-up dining room and the near empty living room, “I'll have to step out of the room when you start smudging the sage, so tell me whenever you're ready so I can...you know, not get banished too.”

Vivi nodded to acknowledge Lewis, her answer so small and quiet as she turned Arthur around with trembling hands and began to rummage through the backpack he carried, “We shoulder get started immediately. Will you be too far away, or can you stay in the general area?”

“I'll try and stay as close as I can, but that stuff really messes with my head, V. Just keep the door open, and if you need me, yell as loud as you can and I'll phase through. I'll hear you no matter how loud it gets in here, I promise.”

Lewis seemed very worried, but with no further comment he stepped backwards and out of the room, watching very carefully as Vivi pulled out the salt and a pair of earmuffs along with the book Lewis had given her for reciting the Latin prayer. Very generously, she spread the salt over as much ground as possible, trying her best to weaken whatever was in the room with her as she began to whisper in that little voice of hers. Part of Vivi was hoping this was all just a misunderstanding, that the spirits would listen to the tiny pleas she voiced under her breath, but as the room continued to grow cold and dark she felt her first impressions on their little friend had been correct after all.

With a gulp and a slow blinking of the eyes, Vivi grabbed the sage from Arthur's pale knuckles and lit the bundle, allowing its smoke to fill the room. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Lewis back off a little, no doubt feeling the purifying effects of the thickness that filled the room like a fog. Her throat was dry and young as she opened the book, but with as much confidence as she could muster Vivi recited the Latin prayer word for word in the hopes that it would at least weaken the angry spirit within the house. She knew she wouldn't be able to see them, knew she was blind in the house of a poltergeist, and yet her eyes were peeled and her senses alert for any change that would meet them.

It was sudden, a flash of heavy weight upon his head that pushed him down, so much more powerful than his young and faded soul, so much older and wiser. At first he thought it to be the sage playing tricks on his mind, but as Vivi danced around the room with the flaming bundle leaving trails of grey to follow her dutifully, he could feel the weight grow angry. He could feel whatever ghost was there growing more and more frustrated, their original disinterest turning to full on hatred. What Lewis had thought was no more than a stage three poltergeist was truly just as deadly as his grandma's stage five, only in another room and without thought towards Vivi.

Now, the entirety of this poltergeist's rage was focused on her.

"Vivi, the poltergeist is-"

His voice was raised frantically from the entrance of the doorway, but to no avail. Just as his words began to leave his mouth, the housewide speaker system was raised to a shattering volume, screaming eighties music at an earshattering frequency. Everyone jumped, Arthur scrambling to place earmuffs on Mystery's head after adjusting his own and making sure Vivi was taken care of, and although the loudness and surprise of the sudden contact was inconvenient Vivi and Arthur thought nothing more of it. They were scared, oh yes, but as Lewis felt with growing power the danger they were in he could tell that they were not nearly scared enough.

Vivi continued smudging and reciting the prayer dutifully, screaming at the top of her lungs and taking the sudden noise and turmoil to mean that her banishing methods were working, that the ghost was fighting to fend her off. Lewis could feel that the opposite was true with every second passing-now the ghost was just pissed off and growing even more so with every minute. This was not good, and with all the noise leaving his contact with Vivi suffering, he had no way of telling her of the very real danger she was in. He gulped, looking down at the salt covered floor in front of him and cursing the world for giving ghosts such a bad lot in life.

Lewis tried to take a floating step into the room, hoping he could bypass the spikes beneath him with the strength of his flying powers only to find that the sage had weakened his abilities considerably. He fell to the the ground, feet smashing into the burning salt below as he howled out in pain. With frantic and quick movements, he threw himself back out and into the hallway where even the sage was still scarce, taking a couple of deep breaths to will away the unbearable needles shooting up from his feet and gripping his limbs in an unbreakable lock. 

Was there really nothing he could do with Vivi in so much danger, right in front of him?

So committed to the job, she continued to keep her voice loud and clear with the dancing Latin rolling off of her tongue so delicately, but as the din surrounding her and the team was accompanied by the banging of pots and pans in the nearby kitchen and the opening and slamming of every door in the house, it was clear that her words weren't getting her anywhere. Bracing himself for the definite pain ahead, Lewis jumped into the room and pushed away all of the feeling in his feet as the door slammed hard just moments behind him. It was with his arrival into the room that Vivi's smudging sage was thrown for her hand, and by some stroke of unlucky chance it landed smack dab in the middle of Lewis' face. No more able than a bird with a bag over his head, Lewis was stunned and paralyzed as the sage fell to his feet, the smoke rising into his face continuously.

Arthur, hand reaching out to Vivi in an attempt to race out of the room, was thrown back hard against the wall with a short scream and a groan of pure terror and pain, feeling his jaw crack as he hit the house by some inhuman force. With every ounce of his strength and stars climbing into the range of his vision, he stood back up and tried his best to continue his trek back towards the girl, but he was weak with fear and bodily injury, no more than a crippled fly to the poltergeist as its presence spread. Even as Lewis came to, the spirit within the house was pushing hard against his consciousness and using the numbing sage to its advantage rather. Whatever beef this poltergeist had was with Vivi alone, and it was with a sense of pleasure that it held Lewis and Arthur back, tinges of warmth readily available to Lewis as the intentions of death were made clear by the poltergeist. 

They wanted nothing to get between them and Vivi, and with an inhale of breath, Lewis could feel the house truly come to life. In the air around her, all the items in the immediate vicinity began to levitate. The terror was so real in her eyes, she couldn't even scream. 

The doors were opening and closing at such a rate now that they bore holes into the walls. Drawers and cabinets in the room and kitchen, joined together, were pulled from their tables and stands and thrown across the room in a flurry of frustration and rage, and back by the kitchen Arthur could see silverware rising from their homes in the cupboards to point menacingly at the girl in the middle of the room. A cheap TV, plugged in and sitting on the floor rather than the TV stand and almost definitely temporary, turned on to loud static over the household sound system while rocks began falling out of nowhere, presumably from the ceiling. The three untrapped companions looked on at Vivi with their determination wavering, because all was utter chaos, and no one could reach her.

"Arthur, hide underneath the table over there, shield yourself!" Lewis cried out, forgetting any past anger for a few moments as he spotted the stones above their heads. With each new wave, the downpour of pebbles grew more and more into boulders, and Lewis could see the situation turning deadly quickly if the ginger didn't get out of the way soon enough. Despite acknowledging that he had heard Lewis over the deafening din surrounding them, Arthur continued to fight towards Vivi, his eyes forward and unwavering as his robotic hand reached forward, growing dented with every rock against the shining surface. Arthur knew that he was getting pelted by stones and that the last drawer to come flying by had been awfully close to his head, but he wasn't going to let a few bruises get in the way of saving Vivi. In any case, he thought sullenly to himself, she would do the same. Each and every time, Vivi would come for him. This was the least he could do for her. This was his only chance.

"Arthur, please! Go back!" She pleaded with tears clear in her voice, spotting her best friend as he fought with a grimace distorting his face, but that request only made his struggles more real. Even Mystery was now fighting against him rather than with him, trying to push the boy back and away towards safety, but that wasn't going to stop Arthur. To see her so wide-eyed and helpless, the drill sergeant turned to a child by the isolation of a poltergeist, made him fight even harder to reach her against wind and stone and pleading eyes, even. With every rock to his temple she could feel herself growing desperate, and she turned to Arthur with a vortex of flying rocks and wind swirling around her only to watch him struggle, fight, and fail. She was unable to do anything as the ghost within the house grew angry, and it was with that determination in his eyes that she watched him thrown hard against the back wall once more with her dog close behind, the force dizzying to even her. Like a ragdoll, Arthur and Mystery fell to rest, unconscious, on the ground across the room from her.

Her cry was the only thing heard then over the clashing noises of the living room, her arms reaching out towards him only to pull back quickly as the force of the wind whipped her elbow the wrong way, broken. As she was shouting out to Arthur, nursing her elbow with a cradling hand and tears in her eyes, she could feel something like a gaze on the back of her neck, the watchfulness of an angry shadow following her moves and growing angry as she paid such close attention to Arthur but not the watcher. Something wasn't right with this room, and as she pulled her head to the side and swung around, it was only by inches that the racing knife missed her.

Using only her intuition as a guide, she was saved only to have that knife go through Lewis' head instead. He phased quickly, feeling it pass by him like a cramp before sticking in the wall with only the handle to show, thrown so quickly and with such speed that it completely passed through save the black and grey grip. He turned around, staring at the knife but not quite absorbing what had happened, feeling blank and empty as his eyes grew wider and wider. Vivi was in more danger than he had ever imagined, dancing on the thin line of death and losing her balance as her toes failed to keep her upright. If that knife had been just a little faster, or ever so slightly more to the right...

No, he couldn't think of what could have happened. All of his energy, no matter how minimal, had to be centered around saving Vivi now. He looked back towards her, dismissing the knife and hoping it would stay in the wall as it was now, still and unmoving. But still his heart began to race, and still he feared this would be her end as the vortex had quickened and the stones that twirled around her were joined by the silverware from the kitchen in their deadly dance. He could see her eyes, wide and crying and helpless as she screamed without reaching his ears, and how they glowed so faintly of that same pink he had seen when she remembered him. Her feet were off the floor now as she was lifted, the silverware and knives grazing her skin and leaving faint reminders on her canvas skin with red blood paint to jump forward eagerly, and she was floating in the air with arms thrown back and head tipped. He felt her fall unconscious, his tether blinking and flickering within his beating heart. He had to do something fast, before that flickering went out completely.

And so he kicked the sage out from next to his feet, ignored the burn as best he could from the salt against his shoes, and began the treacherous journey to Vivi. His head was swimming, mind racing alongside his heart as he ran and shouted a war cry through the vortex of noise. Each blade went through him, every stone passed along as though he were no more than the air surrounding him, but the poltergeist was fighting his advances with every ounce of their very strong being, pushing against him as he fought valiantly against them. With every step he fell into the deepest pits of hell, with every inhale of breath he could feel the sage burning his soul and eating away at his consciousness, but still he walked forward and still he made progress. This was for Vivi, and every breath he took from this moment on would be in her memory and by her life.

He broke through to her suddenly, falling forward and taking only a moment to gather his scattered conscious with his eyes on Vivi. With every round, the knives cut deeper into her skin, the rocks left bigger bruises and dents, and it was clear a larger stone had left her with a nasty bash on the temple, likely a concussion. It was getting worse progressively, and so it was with all of his power that Lewis solidified himself and enveloped Vivi best he could. His arms covering her sleeping body and his hands pulling her even closer to him, her small vessel pressed against his giant chest, the closeness to his tether gave him strength. A quick burst of energy sparked the air around him, the flames usually reserved to his head sending a small rush of fire to fight against the vortex and finding the heat effective as the knives fell momentarily and the whirlwind itself faltered for a few seconds. 

This gave Lewis an idea.

Bracing himself, Lewis shot him and Vivi out of the vortex and towards Arthur and Mystery, ramming into the wall with a jarring slam and falling much like the ginger had back to the floor below. With the target gone, the tornado began to slow to a gradual and confused crawl, lazily twirling out of habit more so than the original and ordered anger. It was with this confusion that Lewis grabbed Arthur, Mystery, and Vivi as close to him as possible, curling around them with arms a fire blanket to allow himself to explode. In a flash of pink light, the house was engulfed in flames and purged of darkness.

When the light died away, the silverware fell to the ground in a clatter of metal, the sound was abruptly cut off, the doors and cupboards silenced and steadied with the calming of a poltergeist. Lewis could feel it, the screaming and dying breath of a spirit, but as the presence fell away into the abyss it was so destined for from the get go he felt himself relax. This was it, the poltergeist had been banished by his superior flame because, when Lewis was with Vivi, he was stronger than any petty and vengeful spirit.

And then he remembered Vivi, and he felt the blood against his chest, and he knew before he opened his arms that she was bleeding out against him.


	20. Not Just Yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The poltergeist did a number on Vivi, and she isn't doing too well. Time is of the essence, and with every passing second she slips further away from Lewis and Arthur and Mystery. The only way she'll make it out of this is if the two can work it out, and even then the chances look slim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can not apologize enough for how long this has taken to get out. To be totally honest, I've been hit hard by depression for the past half year, and so writing had become excruciating. However, I'm on new meds and so (hopefully) I can pull this fic back from the grave and give you guys a good ending in the future!  
> Updates may not be weekly, but I will try my very best! My writing style I feel has changed but not by much. I hope you all still enjoy it and can forgive me for my shortcomings!

All Lewis could see was her blood. Her blood, and his trembling hands wrapping knots in the ripped cloth of her sweater as it was stained in red paint. He wished it was red paint, that this was some prank the mischievous hunter had put on so that he might be scared into forgiving Arthur, but he looked at her now and he knew there was no way. This was a cherry sunset, polluted and dark. This was her blood.

It was many things-a promise of a normal life dying in front of him, an oath he had yet to give her being torn out from underneath him, how she had filled him with adrenaline in life. Or maybe, it was simply the fact that he had been given a chance at her love and soiled it in vengeance and obstinance. Either way, Lewis felt his body growing weak with anger, and sorrow, and the screaming voice that told him it was wrong. This was all wrong. 

There should never have been this much red.

He started forward, letting Arthur and Mystery fall limp from his lap as he pulled her up best he could. Her head was cradled in the crook of his elbow, her body limp against his chest, his stomach, his folded legs. A tender hand brushed her hair aside to name a gash as her hand fell away from his protection, leaving a shiny trail of crimson behind. The cuts, the bruises, all leading away to the shallow breath falling from her mouth…

But there was a breath, and breath was something. He inhaled quickly, feeling a surge of energy burst through him as he found proof that she was very much alive. There was still hope, still a chance for Vivi. His head was spinning, and as he lifted her by the shoulders and began to shake her it was without thought. To him, she must have merely been sleeping. She had to be okay.

“What the hell are you doing?”

The frantic pull of a metal arm was nothing to Lewis. Whoever was calling out to him, whoever thought they could stop him in his attempts to bring her back meant nothing good. Be it the poltergeist or Arthur, they wanted to take her away from him forever. He shook her faster, harder, without a doubt that she would open those brilliant ocean eyes and bless him with a smile. She needed him now, she would be okay, if only he could wake her up…

“Lewis, god damn it, you’re going to kill her!”

He fell to silence, to stillness. It was with the shouts of Arthur that Lewis finally slowed his struggles, his hands merely shaking against the wool of her sweater. With a pause to be assured that Lewis was still, the ginger pushed the ghost aside as he accepted Vivi into his own arms, guiding her to the ground with gentleness. All Lewis could do now was look at those hands, listening to his chattering bones and beating heart as though they were all he had left. He feared that, soon, they might be.

“I thought...she was breathing, so I thought…”

“Just shut up!” Arthur shouted back, his demanding voice uncharacteristic as Lewis sank to the floor steadily, fading. The ginger was determined, focusing on the rising and falling of her chest as a call to action as he slowed his own calmly. Quieter now, he took a breath and let go of his anxieties in a fell sigh, “I just...I need to focus. I can save her, I swear, I can protect her this time.”

He was fumbling with his arm shakily, forcing and prying a hidden metal panel open with all his might despite the shivering of both limbs. The dips and dents in the metal were making his handiwork hard to handle, the disconnected nerve-endings becoming painful as they jerked unpredictably, but somehow Arthur found a way to pry it open. Two years ago, he had installed the helpful little compartment bursting with first-aid supplies after his anxieties urged him into taking a myriad of classes. He had hoped he would never have to use the emergency care classes’ knowledge.

There was so much fuzz in his brain as he fumbled through the bandages and alcohol swabs, cotton bursting at the edges of his skull with the potential of bursting into full on panic. He could hardly breathe past the dizziness, couldn’t see as the biting back of tears sent his eyesight into a blur, the gash on his head still toying with him. Honestly, he wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball on the floor with his hands gripped around his ears, screaming until the quickness of his hurried breaths became no more than shallow well wishes. But then, when he looked down at her and all the blood and the gore covering her flushed face, it wasn’t the nausea that drove him forward this time. It was merely the thought that, this one time, he had to be stronger than his spinning fears.

Behind Arthur, Lewis was still frozen in time, eyes wide and unmoving as he stared at his hands. Arthur threw aside his vest, ripping his shirt into long strips. The ghost was paralyzed, his thoughts so loud that he had fallen silent. What had he been thinking, shaking Vivi like that? And Arthur’s words, screamed so frantically, pushing him so much farther than his metal hand ever could.

He had nearly killed her.

His hands, they moved now to his shoulders in the form of a concealing hug to himself. His eyes undistracted, he could see her now, so bloody and helpless and still upon the carpet. What had he done?

“Lewis.”

Had he honestly thought he could save her that way? How ridiculous was that, saving a concussed and bleeding poltergeist victim by ‘shaking them awake’? Maybe he really had lost himself back on that spike, maybe he really was becoming a monster.

“Lewis, I need you to grab my backpack. I need your help.”

Arthur’s voice was calm now, frighteningly slow as he continued working his hands. Lewis could only see his back, his white shirt torn and tattered as he wrapped her wounds tightly and with haste. Lewis didn’t make a move, not absorbing in the slightest the order given to him as he watched Arthur absentmindedly. He was hardly there anymore, a faded memory of a phantom.

“God damn it, Lew, I need you to suck it up and listen to me! I can’t do this by myself!”

Lewis flared to attention, the air around him sparking as the ginger shouted back at him tersely. Across the room, thrown aside during the prior chaos, was the worn remains of an old yellow backpack given to Arthur years ago. If he hadn’t felt so numb, Lewis might have remembered a prickling of nostalgia held by the memories such a simple thing held, but as his hands gripped the shoulder straps and they ripped beneath him, all of his shaky thoughts centered around his mistakes, his faults.

This was his fault, wasn’t it? For being so stubborn?

“I need you to get the phone out and call the police, then put it to my ear. And with whatever free hand you have, elevate her arms and legs and try your best to get some pressure on some of the deeper cuts,” he never stopped working, not even glancing at Lewis, “and don’t speak, or cry, or anything. You don’t sound human. They can’t know about you.”

Lewis nodded, his mind still swimming as he turned the battered bag over and dumped out its contents, ripping through blankets and sage and snacks. And then it was in his hands, and he was trying to use a keypad made for smaller fingers, and he could see just how much he had faded against the glowing screen. It was all he could do to look away and press it to Arthur’s ear.

Arthur rattled off the address, his tone still clear and calm as he answered questions. Lewis forced himself to turn back to Vivi, pressing a torn piece of Arthur’s shirt against one of her many wounds. The rise and fall of her chest was sporadic and labored, but as he calmed down slightly he could still feel her presence, alive and with them. She wasn’t a ghost just yet.

“Lewis, they’re on their way. There’s a hospital not too far from here. What I need you to do now is, once we hear them, you need to disappear. I don’t care how, but they can’t see you,” Arthur had relaxed now, knowing Vivi would be in safe hands soon, “we don’t have time for the questions you’ll bring to the table. She’s all that matters right now.”

The ghost nodded, “I think...I think I can retreat into my heart, like when I was first formed. I don’t know how well it will work and how long I’ll be able to keep it up, but…” He looked down at his chest, the glass still glowing that faint orange despite the blood splattered across it, “No matter what, Arthur, you can’t touch it.”

The ginger nodded, and just like that, Lewis was no more than a locket nestled in the old blanket from the backpack. Arthur took one more moment to stare at the faintly glowing heart before it quieted to a cold blue.

 

 

More than anything, Arthur was cold. Scared, anxious, tense, but mostly cold. Hours had passed in the waiting room for the local ED without a word from a doctor, a nurse, a paramedic. He was left with nothing but a tightly wrapped blanket and his thoughts, and one thing Arthur was bad at was coping with himself.

The tile floors were familiar to him, the pungent smell of hand sanitizer something he had grown used to in his years of travel, and yet this time was different. Even as night fell and the stars peeked through the slits in the window shades, Arthur felt uneasy. For the first time in a long time, they weren’t there for him. 

It was empty. Inside, and out. No one moved through the waiting room save the man at the desk, his fingers typing rapidly without thought to the ginger. Nothing moved through Arthur’s mind save the static sound of flashing emotions, doubts. He had tried to call his mother, Vivi’s old coworkers, anybody. And yet, all he had found was silence in the ringing and the abrupt hang up of the phone as he shoved it back into his pocket.

“Art, she’s...she’s going to be okay.”

Lewis tried for the hundredth time, but still nothing happened. So they both sat in silence, so they both absorbed their fears.

But then there was a clicking on the tile, again familiar and different, and Arthur looked up to see a woman fast approaching them. A doctor, he assumed by her uniform look, and he sat forward quickly without thought, nearly throwing Lewis out of his lap and the blanket.

“Are you Arthur Kingsmen, by any chance?” She asked, her voice raspy and tired. It had clearly been just as long a day for her as it had been for them.

Arthur was quick to reply, his head bobbing frantically, “Yes, yes, I’m Arthur Kingsmen. Is Vivi…?”

“She’s fine now. She has you listed as next of kin. You are her brother, correct?”

Again, a nod and a sinking feeling, “Yes, I’m her brother,” he lied, a fib Vivi had told many times when the situation had been turned, “different fathers.”

“Alright. Your sister is fine now, so you can breathe,” she smiled tiredly, and Arthur let out a breath. Almost inaudibly, he heard Lewis do the same, “she’s stitched up now and stabilized. We’ll need to watch her for awhile though, just in case the blood transfusions cause any adverse side effects. Visiting hours just began so you can go in and see her if you’d like, but she is resting now.”

It was almost too much for Arthur to handle. He blinked quickly, looking away as he began to breathe steadily again. If not for a slight cough from Lewis, he probably wouldn’t have replied without further prompt.

“Yes of...of course, I would love to see her.”

The doctor nodded, “Alright, this way then.”

He picked up the blanket holding Lewis gently, not quite feeling real as his body stood up and his soul stayed behind, as he walked through the motions without ever leaving. He was so dizzy, so numb as he stood up and swayed back and forth slightly as the doctor turned away to lead him onwards. Iron overdose? Blood transfusions? Stitched up? What would they find when they saw her again?

“I’ve never seen an accident like that before. You said she was hit outside of the car?” The doctor broke the silence, grounding Arthur slightly. Again, a lie slipped through his lips as he stepped forward and they walked through the halls.

“Yeah the...the car broke down. We tried getting some help at the house nearby, but it was empty, and when she went to go flag somebody down on the road they...they just hit her. I don’t know why. Are you sure she’s going to be okay?”

“Of course,” the doctor reassured, stopping in front of a shuttered curtain, “your sister is a fighter if I’d ever seen one. Anytime I thought she was faltering, she’d perk back up and just keep going. It would take the world to bring her down.”

Arthur could feel a smile cross his lips, bittersweet, “I know. I’m nothing if not thankful.”

She nodded, pulling the curtain aside a little bit for Arthur to peak through. His heart, jumping to his throat, was pounding a million times a minute. He was immobilized, shaking. He had been chased by hundreds of monsters, possessed, plagued and tormented, and yet this was the most terrifying step he had taken yet.

The doctor left. He was alone again.

His lead feet moved when his mind wouldn’t, and as Lewis began to pulse and warm his hands like a small flame there was something within Arthur that told him he wasn’t alone, that he had been selfish. All this pain, all these fears, they were mirrored in the lightly glowing glass wrapped messily in his fingers. Even if he didn’t trust Lewis to protect or worry for him, they had been in this together, and though their own friendship had been broken there was still the desire to see Vivi out of this alive.

That gave him a little momentum, and those lead feet turned back into wings, and the step didn’t seem so daunting any longer.

She was cradled in a white room, on her back and sleeping with the sun rising heavenly behind her. The TV was on across from her bed on mute, and outside the gentle clicking of a tree branch against the window played a soft beat. IV drips lead from her wrist, and a multitude of monitors blinked away like lighthouses in the distance. After all they had been through that night, all they had seen, Arthur couldn’t believe how calm she looked. How safe she was. 

He felt his legs falter, and he hurried to her with quickening feet. As cautiously as he could, he set Lewis down on the bedside table in a hurry, letting the blanket drape down the front and expose the pulsing heart as it grew warmer and more excited by the second. Tenderly, he wrapped his hands around hers, felt her fingers warm against his shaking skin, and reveled in the pinkness of her cheeks. 

She was okay.

There was a bandage across her hairline, bruises covering her arms, nicks and cuts and scratches everywhere. But despite this, her face was rosy and her breathing was regular and she was finally resting soundly, somewhere she couldn’t be hurt. Arthur gripped her hand still, bending his head forward and resting his forehead against hers gently as he finally let the tears roll down his cheeks, silently. Everything was alright.

He could feel the stirring of heat behind him but didn’t move as Lewis reformed, the ghost floating into view on the opposite side of the bed hesitantly. Without the intensity of the fire he so relied upon, he looked naked and faded, his skull bare and his eyes dark. Standing next to her head his feet touched back to the ground, never losing focus on Vivi as she slept softly beside him and he lifted his hands, trembling. Despite his wants, his needs, he couldn’t find the courage to close that space between them, and as he closed his eyes he felt so small. 

Arthur didn’t even need to see his old team mate to know exactly how he felt.

“It’s okay, Lewis. It wasn’t your fault.”

He opened his eyes, still unable to speak or move as Arthur pulled away from Vivi, hand still clasping hers. No matter the sincerity of the words, Lewis couldn’t find his own to answer back and believe them.

“It’s a tough job. It was bound to happen sometime. You couldn’t have known this would happen.”

Lewis flared to life, looking at Arthur with intense hatred burning his eyes. He turned away quickly, throwing his hands down on the windowsill and shielding his face. All the hatred, the anger, the ferocity...it wasn’t Arthur, or whatever demon pushed him off that cliff years ago, it was himself. He wasn’t himself, he wasn’t who he used to be.

“Arthur, it is my fault. All of this. The pain, the turmoil, every negative thing we’ve felt towards each other is because of me. Because of how I’ve been acting and the things I’ve been saying and...and feeling.” Lewis looked up, his voice cracking, “You know, she doesn’t deserve it. And you don’t deserve it.”

“Lewis…”

Arthur couldn’t get a word in edgewise as the phantom continued passionately, “I don’t actually hate you! I thought I did, Arthur, but I don’t. I believed you from the start but...how am I going to live like this? I had to believe you were evil. My entire existence is based around it! What am I if what created me, what brought me back from the fucking dead, is wrong? Is a lie?”

Lewis’ voice fell silent, and so did the room. His fire grew tame as he turned around, away from the window and back to Arthur and Vivi with a fallen face, his mind full of pillow fluff and feathers. 

“I want to move on, Arthur, I don’t want to burden you two any longer. You guys were happy without me, and that’s what I want more than anything-her happiness. But I can’t move on without the revenge I was born from, and if I kill you how am I any better than the demon that took my life? How could she be happy if both of us disappeared?”

It was with trouble that Arthur dropped Vivi’s hands, and though his heart was pounding he could still feel some inklings of courage as he stepped away from her and around the bed, towards Lewis. In the weight of his body, in the tremoring of his eyes, Arthur saw the remnants of a friend in need of help. Of a boy with a crush, unsure of how to express his feelings to the friend he loved so dearly. Of a selfless lover, unable to see his true love in pain.

“I don’t know much about ghosts, Lewis, but I do know a lot about that ghost inspector. And if there’s one thing she loves more than the hunt, it’s her friends, the family she decided,” He stopped, looking straight up at Lewis without faltering, “and you’re right. She would be lost without either of us. So why put her through that?”

Lewis was interested, his mind unbelieving if his heart was hopeful, “What do you mean?”

“We strike up a deal. You and me,” Arthur gestured, smiling with a start, “we stop fighting and messing about. It hurts her more than it hurts either of us, and that isn’t fair. You say you can’t move on unless I’m dead? Fine. Don’t move on just yet. You don’t try and kill me, and in return I let you take the last blow if it comes up.”

“You don’t mean…”

“I do mean. If I’m hooked up to life support and I won’t wake up, you pull the plug. If I’m bit by a werewolf and I can’t cure the curse, you pull the trigger. You get the gist of it. We’re both happy, we both get to live a long life, whatever. She’s happy.”

Lewis shuffled a little bit, looking away, “Arthur, I don’t know if it’ll work like that. I’m a...a vengeful spirit, who knows how long it will take before I start to lose myself entirely to instinct? I could hurt you, or Vivi, or…”

“You’re right. You could go wacky tomorrow, or today, or fifty years from now. If I’ve learned anything from our years together and apart, it’s that ghosts are unpredictable,” Arthur pushed his hand forward with a glint in his eye, hopeful, “but if we don’t try we won’t succeed, right? This is just...something to work on, a promise until we can find a permanent way to fix this mess, right?”

Lewis looked at the outstretched hand, the living hand, the promise. Just as he had been in the cave, he was immobilized, struck by fear at the prospect of what such a promise would held. Contracts were different for the supernatural, this might not be something he could go back on. This was something serious, something that took thought…

But he caught that glimpse of blue out of the corner of his eye, and he couldn’t stop himself if he tried.

“Of course. We’ll work on this, Arthur. I promise I will try to be the best I can be, and…” Lewis could hardly keep looking at him. If he had tear ducts, no doubt his cheekbones would be covered, “I’m sorry, for not trusting you about the cave. It wasn’t your fault and...I forgive you for what happened.”

They clasped hands firmly, staring at each other as something other than enemies once more, the path of vengeance altered by disaster and diverted homeward bound. Arthur could feel a genuine smile curve his cheeks, and as he went to let go of the ghost’s fingers he was brought into a hug, pulled to Lewis’ chest and squeezed by the mass of bones and specter stuff. And usually, he would have been uncomfortable, but instead he just melted into contact as he had so missed it from the beginning.


	21. When It Snows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time since Lewis' death, the entire team can finally be together without tensions running high. It's taken awhile to get here, but finally some things can be left behind and forgotten. And some people can be forgiven.  
> However, Vivi doesn't feel necessarily at peace even if she is happy.

Every time that Arthur had walked through a hospital after Lewis’ death, it had been with anxiety. He could see it each and every time, the pain he had endured behind the drawn curtains, week upon week of staring at the blank ceiling with the flickering of a TV leading shadows across his skin as his thoughts sang the tune of loneliness, regret, depression. Hours would pass, stuck in a daze of unbearable self-hatred, and yet he couldn’t break. A lifetime lived in his mind, alone and forgotten, the moment Vivi or his mother left his room. This is what hospitals held for him, time and time again.

But it was different now. Walking through the hallways sang a different song, a tune of promise knowing he would see the friend he so adored better than the night before as she was on her way to recovery. There was hope now in the faces he passed, and though he could never hold a conversation without Vivi by his side he found the courage to smile at the nurses and patients and other visiting folk. 

So long as he knew she was safe and out of harm’s way, he could be more than happy.

Vivi had suffered many an injury on that night, but none more so damaging than the long, deep cut running along her thigh. The doctor stated, with the amount of damage to her artery and the time it took to get her to the hospital, that they were lucky she hadn’t had it amputated, or even lost her life. The concussion hadn’t helped, and after three weeks of bed rest and hospital food the team knew she was getting antsy.

Nothing could hold Vivi down for very long. She’d find a way to relieve her need for adventure and risk, be it wheelchair races or teaching the youths of the pediatrics wing how to properly shoot a handgun. In such a time, Arthur had to rid her of the overwhelming stir craziness that had overcome her.

“Arty!”

He looked up after opening the door into the physical therapy lobby, her fading blue bob peaking around the corner as her therapist asked her to focus. Waving at the nurse on duty before heading forward, he shifted his backpack off of his shoulders and gently onto the ground, the zipper bulging as it struggled tautly. Vivi, giving her therapist the stink eye after such a rude interruption, continued her exercise with a cringe.

Almost all of her little cuts had healed, save for a long one on her shoulder and a hidden incision running across her back. Even the gash on her hairline was no more than a shiny pucker of new skin. All she had left was the arduous task of reteaching her damaged leg muscles how to walk, something that took time and lots of effort on her part.

“We’re almost done here if you’d like to take a seat,” the physical therapist motioned, her light eyes never leaving her patient as she welcomed Arthur in per usual. Vivi’s scowl morphed into a smile, and she looked at Arthur with determination.

“I’ve almost got it down fully. I walked across the room without my crutches! We’ll be able to leave this place in no time, I promise you, we can get back on the road again. Just like old times.”

“Take your time, Viv,” Arthur smiled, hiding his pride behind worry as he sat down across from her, the carrot at the end of the stick, “we’re in no rush. Lunch will wait.”

She huffed, inhaling deeply as she pushed all her weight against the machine to outstretch her leg as she teased, “Yeah, that’s what you think. I’m dying over here! I haven’t eaten for, like, at least an hour. At least.” 

“Oh, woe is the Blueberry. How ever will you survive the next…” he glanced at his watch, smirking, “three minutes?” 

She lifted a hand to her forehead in a fake swoon, “I don’t think I even want to make it in a world where cheeseburgers aren’t allowed in doctor’s offices! What’s the point, Arty, what is even the point in living?”

Without her hand on the machine she lost her balance, and landed loudly on her tailbone with a few choice curses.

“I think I’ve had enough of you for today,” her physical therapist, Dr. Sibyl Price, laughed, offering her a hand before Arthur could even stand up as though she had known she would fall. It wasn’t too hard to guess with Vivi, though, especially when her balance was so off now, “The usual, daily homework?”

Vivi took her hand, letting Sibyl pull her up and guide her to her crutches, “Yeah. The usual. Fun.”

Arthur grabbed his bag, heading to open the door ahead of the two, “Don’t sound so bummed. At least you still have your limb, you know? No jolting nerve ending connections. Let me tell you, that stuff’s the butts.” He swept the door wide, wiggling his robotic fingers at her tauntingly, “Oh! And I have a surprise for you down in the cafeteria. Like, five, actually.”

This perked her up again, and she flashed a quick smile as her therapist waved her on and the two descended down the hallway, “Is it some more hair dye? I’m looking a little green up here…”

“No guessing! You’ll see soon enough.”

They paused at the elevator, adjusting backpack straps and crutch placements, “Is it...a supreme cream churrito from Taco Heaven?”

“No guessing, Vivi.”

“A...small dancing snail from an obscure country in Antarctica?”

“Wha-No! Stop guessing!”

“Is it...a new car?”

“Vivi!”

She laughed, her bouncing voice like bells, “It’s definitely a new car, I’m totally calling it.”

Vivi waved at the two older woman who passed them as they boarded the elevator, her smile turning pensive as the door shut behind them, “You know, I missed this. Playing around and teasing like we used to do. I mean, even though you got better at the end of that second year and things were starting to look up, it was never the same. Not like this.” She looked at him, all big blue eyes and thoughtful words, “I just...you know I love you, right Arty? You’re the best friend I could ever have, you really are a brother to me.”

He punched her gently on the arm, her words touching him more than she probably expected them too, “I know, Bubbles. We’re family.” 

The elevator halted, opening onto the cafeteria floor and the hustle of lunch. Quickly, Arthur set out to find a table for the two as Vivi followed at a slower pace behind him, peaking over the shoulders and heads of the lunch room to look into the kitchen and get glimpse of the menu. Finding a perfect little table next to the window, they watched the snow fall for just a few seconds before Arthur stood up, excusing himself for a moment before going out the back door and into the winter outside.

Alone now, Vivi picked up the purse she carried with her everywhere, rummaging around in it until her hands met warm glass. From the confines of her bag, she pulled Lewis’ heart out with a smile and an engulfing hug.

“You awake in their, sleepy?” 

His bright orange light pulsed gently as she set him on her lap, “Now I am.” His voice whispered, only loud enough for her to hear over the chatter of the cafeteria.

She hardly even noticed Arthur heading towards her now, so wrapped up in her own thoughts and the warm little flame supported on her lap and by her hands. As she closed her eyes and absorbed her world now, it was only with the small yip of a familiar voice that brought her back to life.

The moment she opened her eyes, she was met with a flurry of fur and whining, the dog’s tail wagging and wild as she opened her arms to take him, her surprise evident as she pulled the dog into a hug.

“Arthur! How did you get Mystery in here?”

The ginger ran a hand through his hair, proud of himself and the cheer he had given her, “Let’s just say views on animals in hospitals have changed since I was last hospitalized. I guess family pets help with the healing process.”

She loosened her grip on the dog so that he could slip out of her grasp, turning around to sit at her feet in a guarding, happy position. He had clearly missed her just as much as she had missed him, looking back every so often to make sure she hadn’t left as he leaned against her good leg.

“Wait, Viv, there’s more,” he smiled, shuffling through his backpack and pulling out a greasy paper bag, his face distorting as he realized his mistake, “Ah, shit, my bag is going to be so messy.”

“A supreme cream churrito from Taco Heaven?”

“Yeah, you were right earlier. But I couldn’t let you know that.”

She snatched the bag from him, her eyes lighting up, “Oh my god, Arthur! I am so sick of the hospital food! Thank you so much!”

He laughed, sitting down across from her, “I know, you complain about it like, every five seconds.” 

“Why all the surprises, Arty? My birthday was two months ago,” she took a huge bite of the churrito, body melting in bliss as she lost all sense of self to the heart attack waiting to happen, “not that I’m complaining. I am not complaining at all, no sir.”

“Well,” he said, sneakily reaching back into his bag to pull out a neatly wrapped package, “open your next gift and I’ll tell you.”

She was cautious, thinking about it as she took the gift from him. Whatever was inside wasn’t very heavy, but it was hard, like some kind of metal. Carefully, she set Lewis on the table to make room on her lap, letting his warmth leave her grasp.

“I wrapped it.” The heart whispered in regards to the heart paper, and she giggled.

“I could tell.” 

She was slow to unwrap it, painstakingly so, with the knowledge that her ghostly love might scold her for such a waste of handiwork. Honestly, she found him to be silly, but having all of them together again, truly, was worth a little extra time on wrapping paper.

Confirming her earlier guess, she saw a glint of silver from behind the pink and red. Pulling it out gently, she rose her hands to reveal an instrument of rods and levers, something clearly made by Arthur’s own skill. Pulling it this way and that, she listened to the hum of gears coming from the piece of machinery, and looked up at her best friend with confusion.

“It looks like…”

“A splint, of sorts. Nothing too fancy, I didn’t have that much time to work on it, however,” he reached down, pointing this way and that on the machine, “it should mold pretty well to your leg. It will allow you support without taking all the weight off of your thigh, so once you get used to it you can walk without crutches. Hopefully a lot sooner than with one day of physical therapy a week.”

Her eyes lit up as she made the connection, sizing it up against her leg in hurried excitement, “What? No way! You mean I can just put this on and walk again?”

“Not exactly,” She deflated a little at this revelation, but Arthur was quick to bring her back up, “you’ll still need to use your crutches for a few more weeks. But it will strengthen your leg a lot faster. I already got the okay from your doctor, you’re good to leave whenever you see fit.”

With an exhale, she lifted her arms like a toddler looking to be picked up, pulling Arthur into a tight hug with the piece still on her lap, “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” When she dropped her hands, she went back to twirling the machine over in her hands, “I really can’t say it enough...I was feeling a little anxious, all holed up in here like I was.”

“We know!” Lewis and Arthur quickly retorted simultaneously, and she couldn’t help widening her laugh as she began unlatching the supports in preparation.

Walking her through the process, Arthur kneeled beside her, coaching her on how to get in and out of the machine with the knowledge he had gained from many doctor’s consultations and a lot of reading. Just as with his arm, a lot of the past month had been spent studying leg muscle anatomy and the healing process, but at least this time he had a partner to help him out.

Things were still tense with Lewis and Arthur, but they were getting better. For the most part, the ghost stayed with Vivi in her purse, a large token she took with her everywhere that glowed and pulsed, but mostly slept. However, when he needed to stretch his phantasmal legs or wanted simply to see the sun, he’d leave with Arthur, heavily wrapped in order to prevent harm to the ginger or himself, and on those days when they lounged around the hotel room their time was filled with helping each other understand the injury their person in common had happened upon. 

Or, possibly every so often, playing Super Smash Bros.

“You know, I’m glad we’re all here today. All of us. It hasn’t been like this in a long time, and I…” Vivi, again, had turned pensive, “I missed it. Even though I didn’t know it, I missed all four of us being together. Being happy like this.”

Arthur, still wrapping the metal to her leg, looked up at the bluenette with a bit of worry tinting his eyes, “Viv, why are you so thoughtful all of a sudden? Is everything okay?” 

She nodded quickly, “I guess almost dying does that to you. Makes you thoughtful.” She looked up as Arthur continued his work, leaning back against her chair, “I mean, before this, it didn’t feel real. To me, I had just gone to sleep and woken up with a bad leg pain. I could see everything, feel everything, but it never felt like it happened to me. It’s like watching a movie, you know? And now, sitting here I...I realized how close I came to losing you three.”

“Vivi…” Arthur began, but his voice trailed off as Lewis picked it up.

“But you didn’t lose us, and we didn’t lose you. We’re here, now, and that’s what matters. Being together, being okay and safe.”

“I know, I just…”

Before she could finish, Arthur pulled her into a hug, feeling her tense and then release as she accepted his embrace gracefully, leaning against him in support as they held each other in the cafeteria of a hospital.

And everything felt real to her again.

What felt especially real, despite the comforts that came with physical closeness and reassurance, was the sense that someone in the room was watching her intensely. She peeled her arms away from Arthur, her head turning to look behind her as she met with a pair of striking, honey-amber eyes, chilling her as they locked gazes and were held there for a few minutes in an awkward and tense meeting. 

Vivi shivered and broke eye contact, turning back to her friends with her back to the woman who kept attention on her.

“Vivi is that...your physical therapist?” Lewis questioned, still quiet as she reached for him and placed him back on her lap. Vivi nodded.

“Yeah. She’s always given me the heebie jeebies outside of PT, you know?” she looked down and somewhat away, her thoughts taken away by prior feelings and fears, “When we’re working on my leg she’s fine, but when I see her outside around the hospital she just...watches me. Like I’m some foreign object.”

Arthur looked back at Vivi, eyebrow raised, “Vivi, she’s your physical therapist. That’s what they do, they watch you in everyday life to see how you’re adjusting. It’s probably nothing, mine did it too when I was trying out all those new prosthetics.”

She shook her head now, her face troubled, “It’s not the same. It’s the eyes, I think. Her eyes are so...striking, and different, I always know when she’s looking at me and I don’t think I really like it.”

“Vivi, I don’t think you should let it bug you so much,” he kneeled down, working again on connecting the splint gently to her leg, “You’re just getting antsy, once we get out of the hospital you won’t even think about it, we’ll all be so wrapped up in our new adventures to even think of Dr.Price, right?”

She flashed another look past her shoulder, catching those glowing eyes once again, “Yeah, maybe.”

 

 

“Lewis, do you think It’s nothing?”

They were alone now, sitting in her hospital bed with the door closed and her body wrapped tightly in layer after layer of blanket, the heart she held in her hands still pulsing lightly in response to her touch. She could feel him shift, not so much by touch but simply by the sense granted to a tether and her spirit. 

“What do you mean?”

She shifted from her side to her back, placing him gently on her chest, “Sibyl Price, my physical therapist,” her head turned away and to the side, looking out the window at the stars outside blinking dimly on her last night in the hospital, “she’s definitely not...normal?”

Lewis’ heart began to glow faintly, and as Vivi sat up a little he appeared at the side of her bed, fully formed with a quick stretching of his bones and a flaring of fire around his hands. Just as they did on most nights, Vivi scooted aside and allowed him room on her bed, and the two held each other so the room didn’t feel so cold.

“I’m not entirely sure, V.” He tried, getting comfy next to her and enjoying simply being out of his heart form, something he had been forced to get used to, “I definitely didn’t like how uneasy she made you feel, and even after you stopped looking and she sat down to eat, she stared...but I don’t get any supernatural readings from her. If she is anything special, she isn’t by much.”

Vivi laid on her back, his arms wrapped around her absentmindedly as already the ghost began to doze in and out of awareness, “Maybe Arthur was right,” she sighed, looking up at the ceiling and losing faith in herself, “she is my PT, not some monster. I’m just...tired of this place, I guess. I need excitement, so I’m making it.”

Lewis laughed, loud and full, and she looked up at him in confusion, “Oh, believe me, you’ve been making your excitement for awhile now. The nurses still laugh over the stunt you pulled in the sitting room with the nightgowns.” Lewis found the tugging of smile at her mouth and continued on with a gentle hand to cup her face, “My point is, it’s not the excitement. You’re over the excitement bit. It’s your intuition. Since I met you, your intuition hasn’t lead you wrong; who’s to say it is now?”

She shook her head against his hands, breaking her cheek free from his fingers to look back up at the ceiling, “But ever since you died, it hasn’t been the same. I don’t know things like I used to, my instinct is all off. Whenever I follow it, I get Arthur and I in trouble, or worse.”

“But I’m here now, aren’t I?” She looked back at him, his glowing eyes unwavering in their hold of her, “Isn’t it safe to assume that, maybe, things will change? I believe in you, V. You just have to believe in yourself.” 

Before she could even respond, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug, holding her close to his chest and resting his skull against the top of her head, enjoying her warmth and vivid colors before relaxing a bit and giving her some wiggle room. She hardly moved in getting into a comfortable position, enjoying how close they could be now. 

“I hope you’re right, Lulu. I hope everything is better after this. Really, I do.”

He hardly even moved as his speech turned slow and slurred, tired as he prepared for slumber, “It will be. I promise.” He was too comfy now, she was losing him, “Get some sleep tonight, chiquita. Tomorrow will be busy.”

She looked up at him, eyesockets closed and phantom breath growing shallow, a perfect copy of how sleep might look had he still needed it. Burying her head in his chest as she always did, she turned his words around and around, hoping to absorb and believe them fully as she herself began to doze. Finally, with the words of tomorrow still buzzing around her skull, she felt her body relax and just as the phantom above her, she had fallen asleep.


	22. Lamplight Dusk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite all the pain and all the hardship the team has faced, they still have their good days. And any day with a Wii U and a plate of fajitas is a good day to them.

"Come on, Viv, do we really have to do this now?"

The rain was pouring outside, mixing with the wind to pelt the side of the motel with a loud clatter against the window and door. From beneath every crack and crevice, a chilling breeze brushed through the room as a reminder of the cold outside, and despite the days getting longer as the winter progressed towards its close it was already a dark evening as the gang settled in for the night.

"Yes! I'm not letting anyone see me when I'm this green!"

Arthur and Vivi bickered over the playful music of the TV, Mystery sleeping in the corner as the flame-headed boy never took his eyes off of his game, hands moving quickly along the controller. Vivi leaned against the couch, taking the weight off of her bad leg as she played around with her friend's hair, turning pale at the tips and brown at the roots in dire need of a touch up after going so long neglected. He pulled just out of her reach, twisting like a pretzel to continue playing his game without her prying hands.

"Couldn't we wait until we get home? Like, do we honestly have to do it today of all days?"

She reached forward, quickly grabbing the controller from him and expertly keeping her balance on one leg, a small squeak escaping his mouth as his lifeline was cut, fearing the outcome for his fighter. Without pause, Vivi destroyed the opponent with one well laid strike.

"Get off your butt and into the bathroom, Arthur!"

There was a pause, a moment of thought as he weighed his options. After deciding that an argument with the bluenette would be more than enough trouble for him, he left the couch behind with a pout, sticking out his tongue at her as she navigated back to the start menu of the game. The blanket he had been curled up in fell to the floor softly, the wind from outside chilling as she picked it up and fought the urge to curl up into it. Above all else, she wished the room had heating, but the best thing to do when winter came to pass was keep busy and keep warm. If bossing her best friend into taking care of himself was the only way to keep busy, she wasn't going to complain.

"Are you guys bickering again?" Lewis called from the kitchen, his voice barely rising above the hissing sounds of steam and bubbling grease as he tossed the contents of his pan expertly. With a smile on her face, Vivi snuck up behind the ghost and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face into his back as he froze up shyly. She loved how warm he got when he was embarrassed.

"Only a little." She teased, lifting onto her tiptoes to peek over his shoulder. With hair blazing hot and movements gone rigid, a strip of onion flew from Lewis' pan and onto the counter, soon finding it's way into the greedy mouth of a playful Vivi. She knew if he were more than a skeleton, he would be blushing profusely.

One of the most endearing aspects of her phantom lover was how humble and modest he was in love in contrast to her outgoing and amorous ways.

"We don't have all night, Vivi!"

Arthur called out, irritated, his voice on edge as he continued his hissy fit. Now in a much better mood with a warm chest and the lightness of love in her lungs, she flashed a toothy smile over at a still flaming Lewis before stepping into the bathroom, finding Arthur already running through her toiletries bag in search of his usual dye.

"You know, usually girls don't appreciate people going through their toiletry bag. Actually, the majority of people dislike anyone going through any of their stuff without permission, Nosy."

He rolled his eyes, pulling out the kit without really acknowledging her as she stood in the doorway of the bathroom, hands on hips and lips pursed like an angry mother, "This is you, Vivi. What's the worst I could find in here, some underwear? Yeah, whatever," He began opening the kit, sighing as he pulled out the bleach and dye, "I got used to tampons, like, ten years ago."

She snatched the bag out from underneath him, throwing it carelessly to the ground as she put on her gloves, "You are the worst," her intimidating voice had turned bright with hints of laughter as she circled around behind her victim, "Now sit down and let me light your flame, Candlestick."

"Woah, Vivi, I love you but not in that way. You're, like, a sister to me, I could never…"

"You know what I mean!"

"And what would Lewis think?"

"Arthur!"

Continuously they teased back and forth as she doused his browning roots in bleach, and he covered her head in turn. Despite his prior whining, there was a sort of closeness the two felt when they dyed each others hair, something she felt was well needed as the group dynamic changed once again. Soon enough, they found their way to the couch with game controllers in hand and the sound of Mario Kart emanating from their console. To her, the stinging of the bleach against her scalp was an easy price to pay as she felt their team align as they once had, perfect and clean.

"Aaaaaah shit! Another shell? Really?"

"Come on, Arty, that was a green one, too. You just ran right into that."

Again, his face was pouty and his shoulders hunched. Vivi really had to laugh at how into the game he got. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I was so close t-Oh. My. God. Really?"

"Hey, wasn't me that time. First place doesn't get Bullet Bills." She was smirking, wide with arrogance and brimming with pride as her blue yoshi crossed the finish line. Arthur huffed as he and Toad fell into 8th place.

"This. Is so unfair."

"What can I say, Gingerbread? You know I rock at the Flower Cup, Twisted Mansion is my domain. I was born to play it."

He lifted a pencil into the grocery bag covering his head and the bleach beneath it, scratching furiously with the tip, "Yeah, whatever. And so is Rainbow Road, and Toad's Turnpike, and Music Land."

She stretched her hands above her head, looking at Arthur from over her button nose. Mischief lit up her eyes like nothing else, and the ginger froze up as she crossed her legs and clasped her hands behind her head, "Is that a sore loser I hear, or is it just my imagination?"

He gulped. Oh, he'd really done it now. "Whaaaat? Me? A sore loser? No, no, you must have been thinking of...uh…" she leaned forward slowly, getting closer to him as he stuttered, "Come on, not when we're bleaching, man. Viv, plea-"

His words were cut off with a loud shriek as she pounced onto him, fingers running wildly at his exposed stomach as he sprawled out on his back, giggling and shrieking and pleading with her to stop. She pinned down his robotic arm as best she could, knowing from experience how much a whack from it could hurt, and as if the two were children again they tussled on the motel floor, back and forth.

"Come on, you two. Dinners going to get cold if you don't hurry in here, grocery bags and all," Lewis called out over the couch with curious eyes. The little table was all set up for them, steaming tortillas and all. His voice was like a song as he pulled at his chair, "I made fajitas, Viv. Bet you've missed those."

The noise she made was inhuman as she bolted up, running to the table with no thought for Arthur. Lewis' fajitas were her favorite, and honestly she hadn't had them in what felt like forever.

Honestly, it was hard to get Vivi and Arthur to eat anything remotely healthy, but Lewis had found a few key dishes to keep them both from falling into a junk food coma. Despite her hatred for onions, the girl had grown fond of the caramelized variety, and not even Arthur could argue with Lewis' bell peppers. There was something to be said about home cooking, and Lewis had really got that part down.

"Oh, it smells so good…" Her eyes closed and her head tilted. Lewis hurried to pull back her chair for her as she fell into it without thought, "Tell me how I lived without your cooking for so long, Lulu."

He laughed, low and lovely, "Doritos and soda, or so I've heard."

Arthur sat across from her, rolling his eyes like he always did, "Before you two start making out on the table, how spicy are they this time? I know you two enjoy decimating your taste buds, but I would like to leave this experience with tongue intact."

Lewis cleared his throat, removing the lid from one of the smaller serving dishes, "Voila, a no pepper plate. Seasoned only with the mildest of salts, all for you, mi amigo." He gestured towards the dish grandly, as though it were his crowning gem, "No matter how disgraceful a spiceless fajita may be, I'll do it for you."

Vivi giggled, "Oh, stop that, you big oaf. Not all of us were raised with pure Carolina Reaper juice in our baby bottles." Her teasing smile broke him away from his display, and again his eyes lit with laughter, "My fajitas better be covered in chocolate. Ooooh, no, caramel. Please tell me there's caramel in them."

"Alas, these are but mere steak fajitas, my lady. But I assure you, only the finest of cows were sacrificed to produce this dish for you, only the ripest of produce, grilled to perfection of the finest stove's flame." Again, with flourish, he revealed her own meal, "And the spice, done subtly yet clearly present in the "three-star" style of the ancient Pepper Paradiso ways. Bon appetite, mon chou."

"Lewis. Lewis. Make up your mind. Are you Spanish, or French?" Arthur was looking at him intensely, clearly bothered by the constant change in language. Vivi was already digging in, piling her tortillas high with steak and veggies as the two stared each other down.

The ghost looked thoughtful for a moment, but resumed eye contact merely to break out laughing. All composure, lost, simply at the intensity of Arthur's own eyes and the bubbling of hardly contained joy, the ridiculousness of their hardly kept conversations bursting from him.

Having friends was something the ghost missed.

After settling himself down and wiping imaginary tears from his eyes, the ghost sat among his two chowing team mates with a contented smile, gazing half mindedly into the distance as he slowly pet Mystery, standing next to him. Vivi watched him with mouth stuffed, but as her initial hunger subsided she leaned back a little, observing her ghost still. He closed his eyes, filling his chest with the memory of breath.

"It's the food, huh? It still makes you sad."

His eyes found hers quickly, somewhat stunned for a few seconds before he looked down and away, still with a subtle smile. He shook his head with certainty, but his eyes were a little wistful and her own heart told her there was something amiss. Twice he tried to speak, but it was only with the third that he was able to properly raise his voice.

"No, I...I'm just anxious for this meeting. We really don't know what it's going to mean for us." He sighed, voice deep and hushed, "Who knows how...how all the other ghost hunters are going to react to me. It's...it's a lot of what ifs."

He was talking about tomorrow, about the funeral for those lost to the beloved poltergeist that caused them so much trouble. As the sole survivors of the excursion, Vivi and Arthur had been asked to join hundreds of other ghost hunters from around the country at the event, only barely escaping the request for them to speak with the promise that they would attend as honored guests. The yearly conventions held for paranormal investigators such as themselves had once been a time of excitement and learning, a place to find new tech and hear new stories and learn new techniques, but with Lewis along…

"Couldn't you just hang out in Vivi's bag like usual? In your heart and all?" Arthur posed, but Vivi shook her head with a tinge of worry.

"Come on, Arty, this is a gathering of the supernaturally obsessed. At least one of them is bound to be carrying a piece of gear or two, probably the majority of them honestly," Lewis hummed in agreement, "even if we leave him in the van there's the chance he'll get found out. We have to walk lightly."

"And we don't want to stay here another night if we can avoid it. We have enough money from the poltergeist hunt to last us awhile, but I'd rather not take that for granted," Lewis crossed his arms, thoughtful as they discussed the next day's plans, "I think I have enough control to, maybe, hide myself enough. If we park far enough away from the convention itself it will be hard to pick up a trace of me so long as you're good to walk, V."

She pursed her lips with a slight nod, "I'll have to be. Our only other real choice is bring you in, and that would be so much worse. I can handle a little stroll."

"So we're set, I guess? It's not foolproof, but you've gotten pretty good at drawing those ghost traps, and-"

"No, not a ghost trap this time," Vivi butted in, her own mischievous light outlining her eyes, "I've been reading up, and I think we're ready to turn the van into another tether for Lew. But only after I finish eating these fajitas and get this bleach out of my hair."

Lewis laughed a little bit, leaning forward, "Yeah, I can't take you seriously with that bag on your head."

 

 

 

 

"How do you feel?"

Lewis sat cross-legged on the cold van floor facing Arthur, alone with the ginger and his thoughts with eyes closed and body listening. He could feel so much in his own little world of alertness, a swelling in the air as something rose around him, and as though he had been hours deep in a state of meditation Lewis found a sense of calm washing over him. It was as though he could feel the Earth rotate beneath him and the wind blow around him, a tiny tornado of silence and peace. Some days, the life of undeath felt like one rising wave against the shore.

"Are you okay, Lewis?"

His eyes opened, the light from his irises flaring with flame as he met Arthur's, amber tinged with a hint of worry. Lewis nodded, letting his friend relax.

"I feel...like I'm missing a piece. A little hollow. But I think I'm okay."

It must have been past midnight, but even with the early morning they faced tomorrow their mutual friend had been a little too excited about her new proficiency in ghost spells to let her two partners sleep. Bursting into the motel room like a bat out of hell, Vivi had rushed Arthur out to sit with their spirit while she ran off to test the new tether's strength, leaving the two in a warm silence together.

They had to admit, it was sorta...nice.

Arthur exhaled a little bit, relaxing at Lewis' answer, "Vivi says she just passed the city sign, so the tether is good at a miles range at the very least. That's more than enough, I'd think. She's headed back now."

Lewis was silent for a while, observing the street lamps outside the window as they flickered with powdered moths and nostalgic memories. The ma and pa store across the way twinkled like a nearby star, and the reflection of the bright motel lights against the newly stuck snow made it feel more like dusk rather than the dead of night. The ghost found his mind wandering.

"You know, I lied to Vivi today. About the food," Lewis didn't take his shimmering eyes away from the window, his voice so shallow, "I'm sure she knew it, but I don't want her to worry about me anymore. I can see it, every time I cook for you two. She knows exactly how I feel."

Arthur was solemn, tired but alert, "‘Course she knows, that old timer can read you like a book no matter how dense she can be at times. Lying to her is like me making up some simile right now-pointless, ridiculous, totally unnecessary." His own eyes were lined with regret, a sort of bittersweet memory rising to the forefront of his mind, "In the end, she'll just feel cheated, Lew. No matter how big or small or for-her-own-good you think it is, she knows us better than we know ourselves. You can't fool Viv."

Lewis flared a little, a tinge of anger swelling, "But it's...it's ridiculous! We face real problems everyday of our-your?-lives. Monsters, death, loss. And here I am, crying over a few taquitos and the fact that I can't eat my Papa's flan. Why should you guys have to deal with any of that? Why can't I...why can't I be stronger?"

Arthur raised his hand slightly, hesitated, then placed it carefully against the phantom's back. Lewis closed his eyes at that, releasing a sigh as he shrunk beneath a metal arm, so gently set. The snow had started falling again, the wind was blowing from beneath the door of the van.

"I shouldn't be talking, it's a lesson I still haven't learned. But everyone's pain is different. Every memory means a different thing to a different person, and I promise you Vivi and I don't care how small your fears might seem. You're our friend," a sideways smile, a flash of teeth, "and friends stick out for each other. Even if that friend has a horrible choice of hairstyle."

Lewis' punch to Arthur's arm may have been a tad too hard if not for the protection of his mechanical arm, but that was an easy price to pay as the ghost let off a chuckle, once more warm and bright.

"Glad to hear someone's having fun. I'm freezing my ass off, open the door you goons!" Vivi knocked loudly on the door, her voice hoarse and shivering as they quickly accepted her into the slightly warmer confines of their metal home. She curled up in Lewis' lap, pulling his hands and arms around her as she kicked off her shoes and stripped out of her wet clothes, leaving nothing but a tank top and a pair of women's boxer briefs on to keep her warm. The intensity of Lewis' fiery blush was enough to warm her up fairly quickly.

"Jesus, Viv, have you heard of this thing called decency? It tends to include keeping your pants on when with your boyfriend and company."

"Oh, hush. You've seen me naked more times than he has, and I kept my tank on for your oh-so-sensitive eyes," she tightened her grip on Lewis, dipping her head down behind his hands so that only her eyes were visible, glaring down Arthur with trembling intensity. A drop of snow water dripped from her hair and onto her nose. The noise she made wasn't quite a sneeze, but it re-killed Lewis all the same.

She looked up at her ghost, his sockets closed and blissful, "Are you sure you're going to be okay all by yourself? I mean, who knows how long the other hunters will keep us. We're kinda one of the highlights. You sure you don't want me to make up an excuse?"

He shook his head, radiant, "I want you to go out and have fun. Plus, these conventions are always one of the best ways to learn new things. I'm sure Andy has some new tech to show Arty, and you know Tess tells some great stories," he shifted, getting into a comfier position for his love, "I don't want you to miss that for me. Don't try to lie, you love these things."

"No way in hell I'm letting Andy one up me this time, I've got a robotic arm on my side," Arthur flexed his metal, patting his handiwork loudly. Still, Vivi was looking down and away, thoughtful again, "Hey, where's that competitive stripe? Remember Tess' hellhound story? You fought a poltergeist man. Nobody can beat that. I mean, you were trapped in a death vortex. Just saying. You kinda have the upper hand."

Her pause worried him even more, but soon enough she looked up at him with a big smirk just screaming mischief, "You're right, what am I waiting for? Gotta draft the grand reveal of my latest near-death experience, huh?"

In no way did Arthur believe her to be sincere.


	23. A Nightmare Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis has a nightmare when he thinks Vivi has slipped away from him yet again, and a meeting that was once a pleasure turns into a parade of fake smiles and lies.

Vivi woke up with the blood of a sunrise staining the room red.

It was weird, watching the morning begin when usually she was asleep until the sun was well overhead, but as she blinked the weariness from her eyes and watched the slow crawl of the star over the horizon, she was calmed by the mundaneness of it all. How such a simple thing as watching a ball in the sky rise further and further into the clouds above could fill her with such unbridled serenity, no more. Nothing to think about, nothing to say, just warmth and light. Just love.

Her lungs released a breath and she sunk into the bed and the confines of Lewis’ arms still wrapped around her, feeling his chest rise and fall against her back as though he were made of bright flesh and blood. From the hide-a-bed she could hear Mystery’s snoring and Arthur’s subconscious whimpers and sighs, no doubt the result of a faraway dream, and from the room over she swore the flowing voice of a weather caster emanated from a television or radio. The vents were humming, the winter birds were chatting, and nothing moved but the fluttering of the snow blown by the wind against the dark grey of newly plowed streets.

Everything was going to be okay.

When the sun had fully passed the horizon and the shops, her body urged her to move and get up despite the cold waiting her outside the blankets and the embrace of a supernaturally warm lover. She gently put aside Lewis’ large hands from around her torso, setting them slowly on the bed where she had just been as she observed him tenderly. His eye sockets, closed in the memory of sleep, were so soft. She felt that, if she were to reach out and caress his cheek, he would be squishy rather than tough and durable like bone, more alive than dead. 

She really did love him. Her mind no longer questioned it.

Hurrying to cover her bare feet in her soft blue fuzzy socks, she shuffled into the kitchen and covered her sleeveless arms in one of Lewis’ sweaters, revelling in the smell and feel of it against her skin. Ever since she was a teen she had been promiscuous, ready to fall for any boy or girl who showed an interest in her only to wake up a month later to feel nothing, or very little. And though she felt bad, she’d disappear all the same, back to Arthur and back to reality. But it was different now. She lifted her arms to hug her chest, closing her eyes and inhaling. Everything now, everything today, just felt right.

Arthur had always hated her love interests as well. ‘She’s too abrasive,’ he’d say, or ‘they’re much too dark for you, the only reason you like them is because they are a mystery,’ when she’d introduce them. He was always right, of course, always able to read their flaws and how they would clash with hers. Now, here they were, years together and more than enough reason to hate each other, and yet she couldn’t be happier. She had yet to wake up with anything but elation in her lungs and a smile turning up her cheeks, and every night she’d fall asleep in the arms of someone she truly, deeply loved. She never knew she needed him, and yet here he was.

Today would be a perfect day.

She reached into the mini fridge, pulling out the eggs they had bought the night prior and wiping off the pan from last night, already cleaned by a certain organized spirit. Honestly, she had never been a very good cook-even Arthur, a man who often burnt soup, was more comfortable in the kitchen than she was-but when Lewis had died she had found herself staring at the stove with curiosity and a weird sense of longing. A few fire alarms later, she had grown confident enough to stray from her ramen and TV dinner diet.

Nothing too fancy, just something for the boys to wake up to, she thought. She cracked the eggs into the pan and found herself daydreaming once again, absentmindedly stirring yolk and white together with a picture in her head of a happy little family. For once, she didn’t shy away from it.

The frantic throwing of sheets and pillows tugged her back to reality, almost flipping the pan onto the floor as she swung around at Lewis’ sudden cry of wakefulness. He was making a mess of the bed looking for something, his hands shaking and trembling as she heard him whisper her name repeatedly. Still in her own world, she didn’t quite register his intentions and the root of his fears until, defeated, he released the sheets and hunched over. A cold chill ran down her back, and if she didn’t know he lacked tear ducts she would have thought him to be crying.

“Lulu, I’m right over here, hun.”

He didn’t even move, didn’t turn to look at her. She moved the eggs off the burner, turned off the stove, and hurried over to him as she woke up little by little. As she felt the fog clear and fill her head with fresh air, she realized the mistake she had made. A hand on each shoulder, she tried to find his eyes as he shivered against her, still stuck in a bad dream. 

“Lewis, I’m alright. I’m right here. Look at me, Lew.”

One of her hands found his skull, pressing a thumb against his cheekbone so that he had to look at her. His eyes were scared, terrified. It sent a shot of pain through her stomach seeing him like this.

“You were...bleeding, all over the place. You were dying, V, and I couldn’t do anything,” He looked at his hands, tense, “It felt so real, I thought…”

“I know, baby. I know,” God did she know. He had this nightmare anytime he let himself sleep and she slipped away from his grasp, she couldn’t believe she had forgotten something so chilling to the both of them. 

Her gaze held his steadily as his hands searched her for damage, pressing his palms against her waist, her shoulder, her face. She nodded into his caress, feeling him relax all at once as he let out a heavy sigh, “It was a dream, Strawberry. All just a dream. I’m here.”

He fell against her, urging her to envelop him as she accepted him against her chest. She stroked his skull rhythmically as he rid himself of the fear, the image that hadn’t left him despite the weeks that had gone by. If only she could squeeze that picture out of his head and replace it with the pleasant one she saw.

It ate at her that she had gotten used to this routine, first with Arthur and now with Lewis. At least they had each other, at least she was there to comfort them both when the guilt of their pasts caught up with them, deserved or not.

“Do you want to help me finish up breakfast? You know I can’t do it alone, I didn’t even touch the bacon.” She urged, speaking into his head. He shifted a little bit, and before she could say anything he had stood up, still holding onto her with her legs dangling above the ground. Vivi let out a little yelp as she frantically wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

“Lewis! Put me down, you goober!”

He shook his head, opening the fridge while still keeping an iron grip on her, “I’m not letting you go. I can cook with one hand.”

That was the Lewis she liked to see.

“Could you guys be any louder? Can’t a sleep deprived insomniac get a wink of rest over here?” Arthur moaned, throwing a pillow over the couch and missing the two by a mile. Vivi could see from over Lewis’ shoulder the bright eyes of Mystery peeking over the cushions as well, and as Lewis tested her scramble she stuck her tongue out at her dog.

“You could sleep in the van, you wuss.” She adjusted herself as she accepted her new fate as Lewis’ pet koala, pulling herself up further and wrapping her legs around him for leverage, “Plus, breakfast is almost done. And we should start getting ready, anyway. You want the bathroom first?”

Arthur’s head lifted from the mass of blankets and pillows he had become, and she hid her smile and giggles in Lewis’ sleep shirt. Her friend looked like an anime character, he must have not fully dried it before going to sleep.

Her best friend shuffled into the bathroom and she closed her eyes, resting as Lewis’ kept ahold of her and cooked with ease. Everything felt sort of sideways, but she didn’t think it necessarily bad. Honestly, she wouldn’t complain if everything could stay like this.

 

 

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Viv?”

The team sat in the back of the van, organizing supplies and double-checking backpacks as they prepared to leave their ghost alone for the first time since their reunion. Parked with the back door open, the pattering of rain on the metal roof and the splashing of cars on the road outside as they passed through puddles spelled a wet walk ahead. She was dressed in a polka dotted rain poncho with matching boots and a hat, and Vivi was nearly done preparing them for the task ahead. She pulled her gear up onto her back with a huff and a smile towards Arthur, his voice hushed with Lewis’ back turned. Not a hint of doubt gripped her mind anymore, just a sense of tranquility. 

“It’s going to be okay, Arty,” She looked back over at Lewis as he pulled a few new books from Vivi’s stash, catching her eye and giving a wave, “everything today is going to be just fine.”

Arthur loved how she could make him feel so secure with just a few words.

“I think I’m good with these reads and the laptop,” Lewis assured, “I can’t wait to rip these fake-o books a new one, I can tell by the covers that they’re B.S., no need to open them. Why’d you buy this junk anyway, V?”

She waved him away, turning around in preparation for their trek to the convention center, “A story for a later date, hot buns. You two ready?” 

Arthur grabbed his pack, not even bothering to shield himself from the rain in his ratty old vest, “Guess so. Think the B’s will bring along Baxter?” 

Vivi looked back at Mystery for, taking a moment to think as the dog growled a little. She opened her umbrella, “Nah, they know we never leave this demon behind. I’m sure everything will run smoothly,” she blew a kiss over her shoulder to Lewis, winking as she jumped out of the van, “Love you, Lulu!”

He caught it, practiced and perfect. She looked like a five year old in her oversized rain gear, so adorable, “You too, Boo.”

They closed the doors behind them and headed out, eyes on the building ahead as they left their friend behind. The parking lot they had skipped out on was only about halfway full, but the area that had been taken was filled with heavy duty trucks and vans of all sorts, perfect for long distance gear hauling of any kind. Logos in bright colors flashed against white metal, all names she found familiar. Still, she was beginning to feel out of place with thoughts to her lover behind orange walls-this was something she had to hide, something she really didn’t want to.

And then she thought of Remi, and her heart sunk a little. Remi, a.k.a Lewis’ cousin, a bright young woman raised on the hunt by her father and a close follower of their abuela’s teachings. No doubt the news of Lewis’ death had reached her. Should she pretend to be heartbroken and lost? Or had Arthur told everyone she had forgotten, should she pretend to not remember his name?

“‘Ey! If it isn’t the Mystery Skulls!”

Arthur whirled to the left, startled by the loud and boisterous voice that met them in the middle of the parking lot. Vivi, on the other hand, knew the voice immediately. With a mischievous smile she turned to greet her old friend, one of her favorite fellow hunters.

“Oh boy, Tess, if I weren’t so excited to see you I’d blow your head clean off,” the two embraced quickly, all smiles and laughter at the reunion, “Thought you’d at least call me in the hospital, you rat bastard. Where were you?”

The tall girl flipped her blond hair as she escaped from their hug, rolling her eyes and setting a hand on her hip with confidence, “In Canada, wouldn’t you know it. Didn’t even know you’d been hurt until a week ago when we got the invitation here,” she looked back at her own van, whistling at the backside hanging out of it, “Hey hunny, look who decided to show up!”

A head poked out of the van’s back doors, her bright pink headscarf standing out against the white of her simple dress, “I would if someone decided to help with the gear.”

Tess and Eila, what a pair. Tess had been born in South Africa, Eila in India, both had been exchange students to America in their youth and ended up falling in love in high school. After years of college on both sides, the two had given it all for their dream of ghost chasing. The team had met them on the road years ago after a client mistakenly called them both for a hunt, and the two new teams had fallen into a comfortable friendship together. Two newbie teams in a field that praised experience with one big dream ahead of them, and now here they were.

“You three are basically celebrities, you know. Everyone is dying to figure out how you took down that poltergeist and kept that damned house intact. If it hadn’t been your group, I wouldn’t have believed it. No matter what, you guys always come out just fine.” Tess’ emerald eyes suddenly flashed, and her smile twinged with a hint of discouragement, “Well, almost always at least. That’s what I should say.”

Arthur was standing next to Vivi, hopping somewhat impatiently. They weren’t as far from the van as he had hoped they would be by the time they met anybody. Still, he couldn’t help but catch the helping of regret that soured her voice, and he turned towards her with his eyes averted.

“Tess, she knows.”

She looked back to Vivi, her face no longer hiding anything. Pity, guilt, her own sadness and mourning. Eila, swamped with their gear, set down the backpacks to place both hands on her wife’s shoulders while still giving Vivi a patient sort of reserved smile. Clearly, Tess had been working hard to hold it back, and now that she didn’t need a filter…

“I am so sorry, Vivi. About Lewis. I mean, everyone knew you two were...and how he went was just…”

Arthur couldn’t help but notice her lack of tact.

“No it’s...it’s alright, really. I’ve had some time to think about it and...well, it’s just a part of the line of work,” Damn it, keeping a secret like this was hard, “I wish I had told him how I felt sooner, but...I only hope he’s happy, wherever he is.”

Another hug from Tess, but this time Vivi could feel how tense her own muscles were, “You always were so stoic. You know you don’t have to hide anything from me.” She pulled away, wiping her eyes gently with a soft sniff, “I miss him, too. It didn’t really feel real until I saw you three walking along without him. I mean, Arthur gets hurt all the time, and when you get hurt, Vivi, you get hurt big. But Lewis...he was always so careful, and cautious…” Tess looked over at Eila before laughing just a little bit, her smile returning little by little, “Guess I have to clean up again, huh? Don’t want everyone to see me all red and teary-eyed. Hold up for us, will ya?”

When the two had turned their backs, Vivi felt...guilty. She looked over at Arthur, and felt her heart bend a little for him. As always, he averted his gaze, but she had seen it and she had felt it. This wasn’t new to him, not by a long shot; this was the daily life he had lived before Lewis had joined back up with them, this was how he had to act whenever he was around her. Everyday, looking her in the eyes and denying a part of their lives together simply because he wanted to protect her from something horrible. 

Here she was, lying to everyone to keep Lewis from a much worse fate.

When Tess and Eila came back Vivi put on her best face and let them lead her team forward, taking a little time to think before being shoved back into a world of fake mourning. The convention center loomed over them, more and more daunting by the moment. She had to face them, all of them, with a lie on her tongue and a frown on her lips. She had to wonder if she was capable of that.

But then again, she had to be. This wasn’t about her integrity, this was about protecting the man she loved despite his undead status. With that in mind, she didn’t see any room for error.

Upon meeting the doors, they pulled out emailed invitations and received badges with long ago entered information. Vivi, Mystery Skulls, leader. Arthur, Mystery Skulls, tech. Mystery, Mystery Skulls, mascot. She knew what the last one was supposed to be, but of course they wouldn’t see it this time around.

People stared like the team was some sort of myth, some with wonder and excitement, others with curiosity and doubt. She felt self-conscious, something her confidence didn’t usually allow her to feel, and with the new sense of self she could feel a twinge of pain in her bad leg as though their eyes had inflamed it once again.

“Hey, Tess, do you know if they have the main room set up yet? I think I need to sit down.” Vivi whispered, trying not to meet the eyes of all those around her. Tess shrugged, but lead her towards the main hall anyway.

“Even if it’s still not up, you do have a good excuse,” Eila, a former med student, assured, “I’m surprised you’re up and walking as well as you are, it is easy to think that you might be a little sore.”

Tess nodded, “Yeah, what she said. No one can blame you.”

They pushed aside the double doors and entered into the main hall, all red carpet and white tablecloths covering what must have been hundreds of tables. On each was a little note card naming the teams that would be seated there with the appropriate amount of chairs to accompany it, no more than ten to any table and close to seven at each. Vivi could still remember the first time she had seen the hall all done up, all candlelight and gracious chatter as her team crept in, and she had been dazzled. Even though this was only her third year here, she felt it to be familiar.

Tess seemed to know where she was going, and so the team followed her with wandering eyes. Usually, the ones in charge of team placement made sure that young teams were matched with old teams, experienced with those who were new. The Mystery Skulls were in no right old, but they did have experience, and had definitely made a name for themselves with both the corn maze coup and the most recent poltergeist. She imagined they might be meeting someone knew this time around, or maybe they were set up with Tess and Eila…

When they were presented their table, she felt her heart sink to the bottom of her shoes.

“Arthur, is that...”

The doors, now far behind them, opened dramatically with the chatter of other teams filtering in from the outside. She didn’t have to be close up to know exactly who they were, call it a curse. Not to mention that they were coming straight at the two. She sat down at their table, feeling her head grow light as they came more into view.

Shadowform.

Tess waved them over, hurrying to greet them just as she had Vivi and the gang. Eila, on the other hand, was watching the team closely as she leaned against the table, sympathetic once again. Vivi could feel Mystery pressed up against her leg, offering support to his owner as he sat down beside her. She was not ready for this, not at all.

Leading the incoming team was their leader, Remi. 

She felt like she should be happy, ecstatic even. These were her friends, people she could trust and who trusted her, and yet she felt so on edge and ready to bolt if she was being honest with herself. Even Arthur had warmed up at the sight of them, stepping forward to clasp hands with one of the Shadowform members, Andy, before pulling them into a bro-hug. Vivi wasn’t used to this fear, this nervousness, this…

Arthur found her eyes, urging her forward. She could almost hear his voice in her ear, as though she were reading his mind. 

“I’m supposed to be the anxious one, Viv. Get your ass over here.”

She stood up, ungracefully and off balance as the last member of the team, curly-haired Yasson, came to meet her with that big and unconditional smile. When he wrapped her up in a hug, she sunk into him. What were they going to do?

With her thoughts running rampant through her head, Yasson pulled away from her, turning towards his leader as he began to sign gently to her. His hands bounced up and down, surely leading her on in his own speech. Vivi wished she had learned to read it.

“He says ‘long time no see’,” Remi, all lidded eyes and rough voice, translated, “and I could say the same. How are you holding up?”

Vivi looked over at Arthur, immersed in nerd chatter with Andy. She so wished he would intervene for her.

“I’m...I’m fine, I think. Not feeling too hot today, but…”

Yasson was looking at her carefully, reading her lips as she sat back down with her leg propped up on the adjacent seat. She could feel it as the team began to sit down around the table, as Tess and Eila temporarily pulled up a couple of seats to join the conversations as they began to settle down, this impending feeling of doom surrounding her.There was no way she was going to be able to keep it back all night.

“Andy heard you guys had passed through, and we wanted to be the first to see you all,” Remi sat next to her, her hands rubbing together absentmindedly, “we requested to have a table with you, didn’t think it would go through. Tough crowd, the party planners. They gave a little leeway when they saw who we wanted to bother.”

Vivi kinda wished they hadn’t, “Yeah, I’m not really digging the pedestal they’re putting us on, it was just one hunt. We were lucky to make it out alive.”

Yasson was nodding, and Andy looked like they were taking a nap. Remi grabbed one of the glasses on the table in front of her, turning it over in her hands as she fidgeted, “A poltergeist ain’t just a hunt, you know that as well as I do. It was something that multiple teams failed to come out of alive, and yet here you are. Alive, well, a little bruised but overall okay.” Vivi could see that her hands were shaking. There was something she wasn’t saying.

“It was just lucky, I-”

Her hand slammed against the table, the glass abandoned as she turned towards her with anger in her eyes, “Don’t give me that bullshit, Vivi. You can’t look me in the eyes and tell me you were lucky, not when...not after…”

Yasson elbowed Andy hard in the side before reaching over to try and restrict Remi, clearly practiced as she sat back down with tears in her eyes, quietly crying. Andy looked around frantically for a moment before they tried to pull attention away from their teammates, their lazy smile coming around again.

“Look, all she’s trying to say is you gave us all a bit of a scare. Hunters are family, y’know? We thought we had lost you, and so soon after-”

Another elbow to the ribs and Andy shut up.

Remi was looking at the tablecloth, downcast, “We lost so much to the poltergeist, other teams and innocent people. Then, just like magic, you guys get out of there with a cut on the leg and...how? How did you survive when so many others died?” She was gripping the tablecloth harder, her face distorting as she tried to bite her tongue, “How do you three always make it out? How is that fair?”

Andy again raised their voice, “Not to say we aren’t happy, dudes. I mean, y’know we love your team like family, yeah? Remi’s just...y’know, she was raised with the other teams, and it’s like losing-”

“A cousin.” the heads of Shadowform perked up, and Yasson covered his mouth as Remi’s eyes grew wide and found hers. She sounded so bitter, her words coming from between her teeth.

“...You know?”

Vivi was still. She really wished they had gone with the ‘I forgot’ path instead.

“Yeah, I...I know. Lewis. I got my memories back a little bit ago,” this was it, the confrontation, “I...I’m really sorry, Remi. I really am. This isn’t what any of us wanted.”

Remi broke their shared stare, biting her lip, “No, I should be sorry, I shouldn’t have blown up like that. Everyone knew that you and Lewis were...well, enamored with each other. It really was plain as day.” In no way did her voice sound sincere, but Vivi really appreciated the effort.

“But you lost blood, family. And family means-meant-everything to Lewis. I’m sure it’s the same for you, and...well, I can’t even imagine standing in your shoes. By the time I knew about it, months had passed.”

Remi wasn’t falling for it. She snickered, unamused, “You ain’t a good liar, Vivi. I can read it on your face,” if that wasn’t a chilling statement, nothing was, “no, you were more family to Lewly than I was. The last time we talked he hated me, I’m sure it stands the same in death. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d come back just to haunt me. That’s hat it sure feels like.”how it feels, anyway.”

How many ways could she describe the word ‘unbearable’? If only she could speak up, reassure her fellow hunter that she was loved and missed, that there was still a way to make amends…

“Why would he hate you, Remi? There’s very few things that could’ve turned that boy from his kin, he had such a kind heart.” The least she could do was change the subject a little and veer herself in a direction that might not make her feel so bad, “Why would you think that?”

The girl sighed, flicking her dark hair behind her shoulder as she stared back at Vivi with brown eyes tinged red, “You know I was raised in the business. I thought that, as the sole grandchild of Isabella to be raised on the hunt, I should be the one to inherit the journals that she wrote,” her cheeks were curling up gently, a smile that never reached her eyes, “honestly, I was selfish. Lewis was the only grandchild she ever met before she passed, my dad and Isabella never had a great relationship and so I never got the chance. She put that trust in him, and I was bitter and jealous about it, and we were both so stubborn...I told him that he was no family of mine, and he hung up on me. I regret it everyday.”

Vivi inhaled a little, surprised. She’d never heard of that battle, she definitely would have to quiz Lew about it, “Well, I’m sure he knows you didn’t mean it. You guys were always at each other's’ throats, from the very first time I met you I could see it. But he knows you’re not the kind of person to abandon any teammate. I’m certain he would forgive you, Remi.”

She swiped at her cheeks, wiping away the stray tear that had fallen, “I sure hope so.”

There was nothing she could say, so the teams sat in silence, listening to the gentle zipping of Yasson’s hand as he rubbed against Remi’s back, the light murmur of friends reuniting as the doors opened and hunters shuffled into the main room, the slight creak of a hanging light above them that swept back and forth. Remi stood up, whispered an ‘excuse me,’ and left the hall with Yasson following close behind, and after a few awkward moments Andy stood up and left as well. 

“Eila, your scarf is beautiful. Did you make it like all the others?”

Arthur’s voice surprised Vivi, and she looked up to see her partner reaching forward to run a finger over the flower patterned hijab Eila wore. She nodded, reaching up to stroke it herself. They were always so beautifully patterned it was hard not to notice, especially when it contrasted so heavenly against her dress.

Vivi didn’t find the urge to speak, preoccupied by the wrinkles in the tablecloth as she felt stares meet her once again. She imagined it was nowhere near time for the dinner to begin, and all the voices she could her outside of her friends were fairly new. These must be the rookies, curious of what their society had painted as legends. Funny, she felt no older than they.

Chairs were pulled up and she looked up at glistening eyes, hungry eyes, young eyes. Eyes that knew nothing about a purple haired boy and the chemistry she shared with him, or caves of green smoke and hidden demons, or the eidolon who haunted his mansion for what felt like an eternity, alone. And these eyes, these new doorways into lives she too knew nothing about, were all traced on her and her team. They were the focal point. 

“Why don’t you two tell everyone about the corn maze, huh? That’s where you guys started making a name for yourselves.”

Vivi turned to Tess, her big smile overwhelming as she leaned against her wife comfortably, head in the crook of her neck. The rookies were quiet, watching what she would do next as their crowd grew. She licked her lips, trying to find words to refuse.

But she found herself wanting to speak in a different way.

“It was October, feels like an eternity ago. The four of us had just gotten a call about a string of murders in a maze over by our hometown, but something fishy was going on here…”

She spun her story, well versed and finding her courage once again with the caress of something known to her, a string to lead her back to the person she was instead of this reserved and thoughtful watcher. So what if the giant demon who faced off with them was fictional? The faces of the young hunters as she told of gunshots and cult members and Arthur shaking in Lewis’ arms was more than enough to keep her lips moving, her tongue working, her throat singing. 

And they went on after that, the werewolf that almost got Arthur, the fae people who didn’t appreciate being sent home, the first hunt they ever went on back in the high school. She could almost forget, lost in this flight of nostalgic recollection, the looming shadow that kept her silent.

Almost.

“What about the poltergeist?”

Everything fell silent as the girl in the back piped up, her eyes light and innocent. How could she know, in her infancy as a hunter, the fear that followed a nearly failed hunt, one that may have cost her life? Of course, that’s what the older hunters told themselves as they watched Vivi fall silent, bluer than she had ever looked in her life. She must be reliving that night, afraid and bleeding out, that must be why she is unable to speak of that night she nearly lost.

But she was simply trying to think of how to omit Lewis from their story.

And then it felt like she was hit by an oncoming train, and she bolted from her chair much faster than her leg could take with an inhale that felt much too cold for her lungs and eyes that found Arthur’s, searching, pleading.

She was out of the main hall, running as fast as she possibly could run on her supported leg before Arthur could even think to chase after her. His only clue as to where she had gone was the frantic name she had yelled before bolting, eyes glazed over as though she had been sent some psychic premonition.

Lewis was in danger.


	24. Scars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's good to be back in action as a team rather than 3/4th of a whole, but the Mystery Skulls are finding the nosiness of their friends to be just a little annoying...and terrifying.

It was a wonder that Vivi, encumbered as she was and running along slippery and wet pavement, didn’t slip and fall flat on her rear end as she ripped through the parking lot. Rain pounded down on her head like a migraine, trickling into her eyes and down her neck, chilling her and marring her sight as she urged herself on. Mystery jogged along beside her in a vain attempt to keep her upright, kicking up water from the puddles beneath his feet and looking up at his owner every few seconds to make sure she was still balanced. The consistency of her speed seemed to keep her on her feet. Her hands lifted, covering her shivering and bare arms. She could feel her heart sink, her hands tremble. She had to keep going.

It had been like a shot through her brain, so similar to the old headaches that protected her from the truth. A flash of blinding light and she knew, somehow, that he wasn’t safe where they had left him. With that on her conscious, she knew she couldn’t stop running, even as she felt her muscles scream at her to stop with her breath growing labored and her limp becoming problematically sore. She was slowing to a hobble, but a determined one at that.

She blinked the water from her eyes, teardrops, lifting a dripping wet arm to swipe at her face uselessly. The van, she could see it now, cabin light on and back doors opened wide for all the world to see...and no Lewis in sight, stretched out on the couch in back with legs propped up and book in hand, or scurrying around to clean up the mess the team had made. Only three curious investigators snooping through her home, fumbling through the clothes Lewis had so nicely folded and throwing her belongings on the floor in a frantic search for...something. Of course she recognized them, knew them as friends, yet the ringing in her ears told her they were her enemies now.

“Remi, what the hell are you doing?”

The three perked up. She saw the radar beeping steadily in Andy’s hands, the salt a threat in Remi’s. She was furious.

“Hey, settle down, Vivi. We caught some paranormal signals from your van is all, we’re just trying to help out.” Andy covered, smiling as though they believed their words would truly calm her down. Spoiler: they didn’t.

“That doesn’t give you the right to...you can’t…” Her eyes were flashing, bright and alive, tumultuous seas that swallowed ships whole with no trace of life to ever dance among their wooden hulls. She didn’t even move as she felt the warmth of Arthur behind her, covering her shoulders in the raincoat she had left behind in her rush. It didn’t matter, she was soaked now. She could hardly feel the cold.

“Look, it’s a strong spirit. The radar is going nuts. Whatever you guys were carrying around…aha!” Remi stuck a hand between the couch cushions, her tongue slipping out in concentration as she set the salt down beside her. Lifting her arm up and out, she held between her palm and thumb a faintly glowing glass heart, “That’d do it. Some kinda haunted locket? Where’d you guys come across this?”

“That’s none of your damn business, Remi. And you know it.”

Remi tossed the heart to her other hand, and as it cut a small arc through the air, Vivi felt her own take flight. She didn’t like how the other team leader was handling this, not at all.

“Oh, it is our business, Vivi. Do you realize what a hostile ghost of this caliber could do to a place like this? Spirits and spirit hunters don’t tend to get along very well, you know that, right?” That temper, she could hear it clear as day with Remi’s voice rising, “Of course you do. So why would you, the ‘genius’, the ‘natural hunter’, why would you be carrying around a weapon of mass destruction in your van? Why would you put us all in danger like that?”

“Don’t mind those words, Vivi, Remi is just a little-”

“I know what I’m saying, Andy! But does she know what she’s been saying? The lying? The fake stories and smiles and...all to cover up something. Is this it? Is this your secret? Tell me the truth, now!” Remi was hysterical, tears streaming down her face as she held Lewis’ heart up like a sacrifice to the weeping sky above. Vivi’s hands clenched, then released. With it, so did her shoulders. Her chin lowered, gaze still steady as she made the decision. 

“It’s...it’s Lewis.”

Remi scoffed, pulling the heart down to her side again, “What, you think you can distract me with stories about my dead cousin? You can’t be serious. Stop hiding from me, stop lying to me, stop-”

“No, the locket. It’s Lewis. Just...just come on out, Hun.”

She felt Mystery lean against her good leg and Arthur’s arm wrap around her shoulder as she turned into his chest, warming herself against him as the heart began to glow, a faintness that could be mistaken for a reflection of light swelling with her heartbeat and growing brighter and brighter. Vivi couldn’t look, could hardly stay standing as she felt her breathing falter. Here it was, their judgment day. She only hoped they would let her phantom live after she broke down the dam.

She heard his fire come alive, crackling, and she could almost see him standing in the back of the van in her head. All she wanted to do was turn back to him, to see him posed proud and tall with a plated hand outstretched to her in a gentlemen’s invitation, but she was too afraid of the alternative. Too afraid to look back up at all of them.

“...Lewly?”

Arthur’s grip around her tightened as she heard the scrambling of the team in front of her, feet quick to stand at the ready and hands fumbling through pockets for salt, sage, words of Latin that could save them from a malevolent phantom. She could only peak from the comfort of Arthur’s vest a moment, eyes searching the scene for a way to get all four of them out alive and well. All she saw was the one she loved in the cross hairs of three ghost hunters. The courage that held such a tight hold around her heart faltered.

“Is this some kind of sick joke, Vivi? After I...after I confided in you? After I…” Remi had picked up her salt once more, eyes locked on Lewis’. She bit her lip, hiding what was no doubt a noise of pain as Lewis moved towards her and she backed away, “Why would you want to play with me like this? You’re sick! You’re all sick! You’re all…”

Both of Lewis’ hands found each of her elbows. She took a moment, frozen in fear, before she sunk into him and let flow a downpour of unspoken emotion. He simply held her as he lead her to the couch and they sat beside each other, her whispering lost in his clothes and her legs folded up beneath her.

She looked so small.

“We wanted to tell you, Remi. We did. But we didn’t know how you’d react, how anyone would react,” Arthur piped up this time as Vivi left his arms to climb into the van herself, trading spots with Andy as they jumped down with a hand to their forehead in bewilderment. She, too, sat beside Lewis as he reveled in this reunion, the only thread of his kin who he had been able to hold in this new form. She broke away from him finally, eyes red and cheeks flushed. She was sniffling as quietly as she could.

“Lewis, I thought...I honestly thought that you were haunting me, punishing me...I’m so sorry, I never meant to say…”

He grabbed one of her hands, a smile lighting his eyes, “I know, Rem. I know.” He took a moment to look at her before pulling her back into a hug, a streak of a big brother shading him in that moment, “I really did miss you, you know. I shouldn’t have been so damn stubborn. I never wanted our argument to end like that.”

“Am I the only one who has a few questions about this turn of events?” Andy cried out, standing with arms outstretched underneath the cover of an umbrella Yasson carried, quietly consoling his friend, “I mean, that’s really out of character for me. I’m, like, the chillest all the time. Why am I the only one who’s confused?”

Remi turned away from Lewis with a hint of embarrassment at her breakdown, straightening her shirt and rubbing the puffiness from her eyes as best she could. She was nodding, bobbing her head and avoiding eye contact with the team as she affirmed her friend, “No, you’re right, Andy. We all have questions,” Yasson was nodding himself, and she looked back over at Vivi and Lewis with a growing sense of calm, “but is it really that hard to believe? I mean, we see ghosts all the time, why not Lewly?”

Yasson cleared his throat, grabbing Remi and Andy’s attention before signing furiously. The leader nodded at him with a smile, shifting her position to get a little comfier as both teams made room for everyone to get out of the rain, “Yasson has a point. Why would you hide something like this from us? I mean, the ghost hunters love your team-we were all distraught when we heard about Lewis-so why try and keep him away from us?”

Vivi shifted a bit, and Lewis wrapped an arm lazily around her as Arthur and Mystery came to sit on the ground beside them, “What, are you telling me you’d bring a ghost to a ghost hunting convention? Sounds pretty dangerous to me if we wanted Lulu to continue existing.”

Andy brought a hand to their face again, swinging their head back and forth with a groan. When their reaction was met with confusion, they seemed to melt into their tired tone, “Of course. Rem, they weren’t here when Big Ben was around. ‘Course they wouldn’t know.”

The Skulls had their eyes all screwed up, finding more confusion as Remi released a knowing sigh. Arthur raised his voice when nobody else would, repeating Andy’s words with a quick and quizzing, “Big Ben?”

Remi flicked her hair out of her face, letting it fall down the back of the couch, “Yeah, Ben. You guys know Old Mal, right? Well, she didn’t used to be alone like that. She was part of a team of three, one of which was her brother, Ben.”

Andy picked up the story, leaning back against the van wall with hands in pockets, “Ben wasn’t the luckiest fella. On a hunt, he got picked off by a ghost, but he came back alright. Followed the team around for more than a couple of years, y’know?” they laughed a little, reminiscing back to their younger years, “Good ol’ guy, Ben was. Everyone loved him, even if he was a little see-through. Told the best stories.”

“What we’re trying to say is, ghosts have been a part of paranormal teams before. Lewly, you aren’t the first, and I reckon you won’t be the last,” Remi cut them off before they went too far into the past, rambling as they so often did, “nobody is gonna care if you’ve got fire hair and a skull instead of flesh and blood, they’re just going to be happy to see you again. Plus, it makes it a lot easier to test gear when you’ve got an actual ghost to use as a guinea pig.”

Lewis’ seemed to lose some of his height, his muscles growing lax as he released all the tension in his ghostly body, “You mean I could walk in their right now and no one would try an off me?”

Yasson nodded and Andy spoke for him, “You might get a few looks from the newbies, but you’re part of quite the legacy. Not to mention everyone loves actual, legit ghost stories, y’know?”

The ghost looked relieved, his eyes meeting Vivi’s with an inkling of hope sparking at the edges. She, too, felt her worries rush down her back and onto the floor, the crisis averted and a chance for her beloved to be happy in the arms of what had once been his favorite gathering of people. But there was still a prickling on the back of her neck, still a question she needed to ask of Remi.

“Well, what are we waiting for? There are so many people I can’t wait to say hello to...and the stalls! We’re running so low on some vital stuff, you know!” Lewis was growing in excitement again, standing up with ghostly hands on ghostly hips, “Come on, V, what are you waiting for? You love checking out the charms Bonnie puts out…”

“Hold on, Lewis. There’s something pressing I got to get out of the way,” She stood up herself, turning to face Remi again, “and I think you know what I’m going to ask. What were you all doing snooping around my van like that?”

There were a few moments of silence. Remi stared at her intensely, eyes still tinged with the red veins left behind by tears like trails broken in by careless hikers lacking experience as they traipsed through the untouched wilderness. God, she could see so much of what Lewis had been in them, even if her pupils swam in seas of deep brown while his floated on fields of lavender. 

A cough from Arthur as he clapped Andy on the back, urging them to break the silence, “Oh, you know, we just wanted to surprise you is all. Fill the van with balloons, something like that. It was all just a...just a welcome back present! Before, you know, we got distracted…”

“And where are the balloons, by chance?”

“Vivi,” Lewis had a hand on her shoulder, deep voice mellow in an attempt to calm her down. Still, her hackles were raised and her presence on edge. Two alphas, squaring off, neither wishing to admit defeat, “come on, Blueberry, it’s all good. No harm done.”

She held Remi’s gaze for a few more tense moments before finally allowing herself to break away, down the back of the van and into the rain ahead of her. Lewis followed close behind, and Arthur trailed them beside Andy and Yasson. Remi, still seated in the van, was followed cautiously by an on-edge Mystery as he kept an eye on her. She closed the van, pausing to look at the teams before turning and walking away from them. Mystery watched her depart, waiting until she was out of view before following his own team back to the hall.

 

 

Lewis. Mystery Skulls. Brains/Brawn.

He looked so silly now, his intimidating, ghostly height and full on funeral garb downgraded by the name tag pinned to him lovingly by a grinning Vivi, but he was just fine with that. It felt right to him, to look down and see something aside from a faded presence with plated hands and a broken locket. This was who he used to be, before everything went awry and he turned into...whatever he was, now. 

He only wished people wouldn’t stare at him like that.

It was exhausting, every time someone from his past came running up to shower him in hugs and words of sympathy. Some cried in mourning, others in happiness, and he felt he should be moved to tears himself. But he couldn’t be bothered. To them, this was the realization that a dear friend was never lost to the tugs of fate and time, a second chance to say the things they never said to him before. For him, it was simply another convention.

Vivi was still on edge, but he could sense she was coming out of it. Her heartbeat had slowed its quickened pace with her hand in his and an eye on Arthur and Mystery as he dismissed himself to scan the booths set up with gear galore and the mascot followed. Friend after friend, stranger to stranger...and all he could do was smile and reassure them that he was, in fact, real. In a sense.

And, out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Old Mal watching him like a hawk.

The two wandered to the main hall, finding their seats once more as Vivi, recognizing Lewis’ distress, complained of fake pains in her leg and requested her phantom carry her in consideration of all of the terrible pangs she felt as she stood on her own. She would never pass up the chance to show off her boyfriend and, as he swept her off her feet and began to float away with a couple farewells to those who had been speaking to him, he couldn’t have loved her and her lying tongue more.

They were alone now with only a few other hunters spattering the seats of separate tables throughout the hall. He set her down and took the chair next to her, leaning back dramatically. She scooted closer so that she could rest a head on his chest, eyes closed as she wrapped her hand in his, naturally.

“Thanks for the excuse, Boo. I needed a break.”

She looked up at him, the flame of his head losing control at the edges and reaching up with tendrils of jumping pink fire. He looked tired, eyes drooping slightly to the side and chest heaving despite his inability to breathe. She shifted so that she leaned on him even more.

“Don’t mention it, Hot Cakes.” She twisted her body around, pulling herself onto his lap with hooded eyes growing sultry and playful, “Any excuse to get me some alone time with you is worth the trouble.”

His eyes grew wide and his hair flared as she toyed with him, leaning forward with her face just inches from his own, pushing her chest into his as she wrapped her arms around the back of his shoulders. 

She loved to see how embarrassed she could make him.

“Hey uh, sorry to like, ruin the moment and stuff? But I kinda need to talk to you guys about something a little important?”

Lewis jumped, nearly pushing Vivi off of him as Andy’s voice appeared from behind them. The bluenette laughed, loud and full enough to fill the hall with her mischievous spirit as Lewis grew warmer and warmer to the touch. No matter how much time they spent together as each others’, he still acted like a shy teenage boy in the face of love. She couldn’t get enough of it.

“What’s up, Andy?”

They sprawled out in the chair next to the two, Vivi wrapping Lewis’ arms around her waist as she claimed him as her new seat. They scratched the back of their neck, clapping their hands and running them together quickly as they confronted the two.

“Well, y‘see…” They began, but trailed off with a lick to their lips, clearly not that confident in their words, “Aw, shoot. I shouldn’t be telling you this but…”

“Come on, kid. It’s all good, we won’t bite your head off.” Vivi reassured, her tone more relaxed now that she had time to calm down. Andy nodded, averting their gaze.

“I wanted to apologize, for Remi and all, y’know? ‘Course she’s a grown adult, but…” they gulped, closing their eyes, “she lost someone she loved to that poltergeist. As in, her fiance. When we went out there, we really did want to surprise you guys with something nice! At least, Yasson and I did…”

They looked over to the door to the main hall, watching curious people filter in once again to see Lewis and hear his story, “We didn’t know she was...she was looking for a reason to hate you guys.” Finally, they looked Vivi dead in the eyes, “I guess she figured that, if the person she loved couldn’t make it, a group of people she thinks of as new kids couldn’t have done it without some form of foul play. You get what I’m saying? She’s hurting, and when she hurts she kinda...lashes out.”

Lewis looked down at Vivi, trying to find a reaction in her eyes as she kept a hold of Andy’s own, but all he saw was kindness and warmth overflowing from her face like a bubbling geyser. How quickly her tides could change.

“It’s all good, Andy. Everyone mourns in their own way. I was just...scared,” She looked up to meet Lewis’ eyes, glowing and bright and oh so very proud, “Scared that I would lose him again. I know now that was never a possibility.”

“You know, it was a ballsy move,” They continued, hands behind head and elbows splayed out, “bringing him here like that if you thought he wouldn’t be accepted. Any reason you didn’t stay in your guys’ motel or something, big boy?”

Lewis shifted a little, blushing again, “Oh, you know, ghostly reasons. For ghosts to know.”

“What he means to say is he literally can’t live without me. Or the van.” She lifted her palms to show the carefully drawn on hearts, reflecting his own, “That’s what having a tether will do to you.”

They nodded with a grin, and the three sat in silence for a little while. People were gathering in the hall again, partially because the memorial time was nearing and partially because that was where the ghost was, but since most of them stayed at their own tables Lewis didn’t really mind. Even Arthur, laden with new ideas after an hour or so spent walking around talking to old friends, found his way back to their table. 

Vivi looked around at the smiling, chatting faces surrounding her, a forest of chittering birds and curiosity held at a tight rein with prodding yet not unkind eyes. She spotted a kid who could be no older than Perla perched on the shoulders of a young man, pointing and laughing and smiling with light; and then, to the back of the room, an older woman with eyes wide in wonder as she retold some far off tale. Yasson was back beside Andy, Mystery was snoring softly beneath the table, and of course her boys were accounted for...but Remi, where could she possibly be?

The lights dimmed down and the crowd fell into a comfortable hush with the light music now gone. Reluctantly, Vivi sat in her own chair, Lewis’ hand still grasped tightly in her own as the arrival of the speaker prompted an eruption of clapping. She wasn’t really listening, too caught up in her own thoughts and a gentle appreciation of the crowd surrounding her, everyone here together.

There was a moment when their team was mentioned and heads turned, but as the memorial continued and words were spoken for the deceased she couldn’t help but tighten her grip on the plated hands between her fingers. She closed her eyes, not out of weariness but emotional exhaustion as the day came to a silent end, a subtle one. At least the four were together, accepted as they were among friends.

 

 

The feeling of dusk had settled upon the group gathered in the hall now, that syrupy laziness that wraps tendrils around waking limbs to pull them into a sleepy stupor as yawning mouths and slurred speech signaled a call to rest. When the brain begins to shut its lights off one by one, and every time you blink it’s as if you are reawakening into a new life, reborn but not necessarily refreshed as you stumble forward towards what you hope to be home. It’s a down comforter, warm and inviting yet suffocating once underneath. 

Stories had begun again as teams crowded together for one last tale or two. This time, the Mystery Skulls were listening, curled up together on the ground where their table had been, now replaced by beanbags and comfier things. Tess was animatedly and dramatically relaying the hellhound story with gusto to all gathered beneath her, and as lights blurred together with Vivi tucked snugly between Arthur and Lewis, she felt an urgent pounding on her shoulder. She turned around quickly to find two bright, citrine gems staring at her, just inches away from her face and framed by kinky, grey curls.

“May I...speak to you, Ms.Vivi?” Old Mal, the oldest ghost hunter to date, requested. Those wide eyes flicked to meet Lewis’ temporarily, cautious and reading, “...alone?”

She paused before moving, feeling Lewis’ hands around her arm keeping her in place. Honestly, she had no desire to move from her current spot, but as she watched Old Mal and thought of all the questions burning through her head like a cigarette butt burning low…

Even as she began to stand up, he wouldn’t let go. She placed a gentle hand on his now, smiling reassuringly.

“I’ll be fine, Lulu. Just...five minutes.”

Even if she was on edge, she let the old woman lead her away from the group and towards the doors into the nearly empty convention center. She felt invisible, as if none of the people sitting around her even noticed her leave. 

“I won’t keep you long.” Her voice crackled like dry firewood. Vivi hoped they wouldn’t spark anything.

“Don’t worry about it. What’s up, Mal?”

The older woman leaned up against the wall, eyeing the few people strolling through the building to gauge just how quiet she had to be to keep their meeting secret. She definitely didn't want any gossip flying among other hunters, “No doubt you’ve heard about Benjamin, right? My brother?”

Vivi nodded, recalling Andy’s story, “That’s really the only reason we brought Lewis in, we didn’t think he’d be accepted until we heard about Ben.”

Mal averted her gaze further, chin down as she whispered almost too quietly for Vivi to hear, “Let me tell you something that kid doesn’t know, something you need to hear. A ghost is a ghost. Don’t get attached.”

Vivi could feel her body constrict, defensively. Her muscles tightened, her eyes turned to slits, “And why would that be?”

“You ever stop to think where Ben is now, punk?” Mal turned back to her, teeth grit and eyes feral, “No, because you don’t think. Yeah, the two years we got with him were fun and all, but a ghosts’ instincts are strong. They have one mission, and one mission only.”

Of course she was denying it, shaking her head as she grew more and more irritated with the old woman. The hair on the back of her arms rose uselessly, ready to fight with words if nothing else, “No, not Lewis, not m-”

“Think what you will, but my Ben was a kind spirit. Kindest boy I ever knew, and yet when those years came to a close...all he could think about was revenge, not just on the ghost who took his life, but all spirits alike,” She lifted her hand and pulled her sleeve up to her elbow, revealing scars all up her arm that pulled her skin taut and glossy, “and revenge on those who got in his way. You see what I’m getting at, kid?”

Vivi turned away, not wanting to face these facts as they were so suddenly thrown in front of her. Her heart hammered, her throat collapsed inwards as she tried to speak but found nothing. She couldn’t believe, didn’t want to believe it, but…

“Doesn’t matter how much he loves you or how much you love him, I’ve seen enough vengeful spirits in my time. You’ll be lucky if you get a few months out of him before he hurts you...or your pal, Arthur. Cut him off quick, girl. Or you will regret it.”

Mal walked away, her gait slow and purposeful, and yet all Vivi could see was a threat. Mal, what a fitting name. She tried to turn around but could only turn her head, swinging back to look through the doors of the main hall with longing and fear gripping her lungs like cold, clawed fingers. Lewis’ glowing hair stuck out brightly against the dark crowd like a beacon calling her forward, the home she wanted to return to on this syrupy thick night but couldn't find a way to make her legs move. Against the cold stone walls all by herself, it was all she could do to sink to the floor, hands crossed over her chest as she bit her lip gently to keep her whimpers silent.


	25. Bending Oaths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vivi isn't taking Old Mal's words lightly, and as tension rises the gang needs to think of a new direction or possibly face the consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided I'm not going to change aspects of the story to fit canon anymore (Lewis' family and last name, for example) as that would be very time consuming and would change the story quite a bit! Just keep in mind that I began writing this story before we knew really anything about the gang, save for their profiles.   
> If I write a 'sequel' (still up in the air) than these are things I might consider, however right now just think of it as an au and enjoy what you can!  
> Thanks for sticking with me so far, lovelies. I really appreciate it. :-)

“Blueberry, put the computer away. It’s nearly morning.”

The motel room was still before he shifted, the flashing from Vivi’s laptop the only source of light in the soundly sleeping room. Dusk powdered her face with dark foundation and let the glow from her bright cheeks shimmer through as stars outside, cold and smiling. Lewis had been resting quietly with an arm tossed lazily over her leg, but as Vivi didn’t move he propped himself slowly onto a tired arm, his dim eyes growing brighter as he slowly woke up with a hand through his hair. She angled the screen of her laptop so that his curious eye couldn’t quite make out what she was looking at.

“Just a little longer, I won’t be too long…” She argued, a yawn breaking through and ruining any chance she had of being convincing. His large hand pushed against the top of the device, closing it with a gentle click.

“Unlikely. Now come on, you need sleep a hell of a lot more than I do,” His arms opened wide, warm and inviting and tugging her sideways as if by some supernatural force, “and we both know you’re getting a hell of a lot less than you need.”

She bit her lip, trying hard to stay determined but finding herself faltering. She pleaded with the stars outside to keep her on track, but then she looked over at his sleepy eyes tilting so cutely at the ends, looking like a toddler just begging to be picked up. He was tearing her up and he didn’t even know it.

“Come on, whatever you’re looking for will still be there in the morning. And we have all day in the van to research it…we still have a long way to go until we hit home, and I need you, V.”

Finally, she broke with that, closing her eyes with a gentle sigh as she placed the laptop gently on the bedside table and let him enclose her in his grasp. She buried her head into his chest, trying not to act as frantic as she felt, swearing to herself that she would remember it all. Every bit and piece of it, how her body molded perfectly to his and how warm her forehead grew pressed against his body and how gently and slowly he stroked the back of her head. This time, she wouldn’t forget a thing.

This time.

“Lewis...I don’t want to forget this.”

He looked down at her and she looked up at him, surprise opening his eyes before they grew soft. That brightness, that flame, it reminded her what it was to be loved.

“You won’t forget, because I will be here everyday, reminding you. Every morning when you wake up, every night-well, every morning when you go to sleep, I’ll be right here beside you, Vivi. That will never change,” he pulled her to his chest again, gripping her tightly without the intent of ever letting go, “I won’t let it change.”

She could feel tears jump to her eyes again, a quick inhale to stop the sniffling that was soon to follow. Her hands gripped the fabric of his shirt tight, feeling, absorbing every sense of him as he held her. She closed her eyes again, and a drop fell from her heart to dampen the white sheet beneath them.

Could he really say that, truly? Everywhere she looked, everything she did made her feel more and more lost to the truth presented to her by the old messenger. No archive told of anything that could help them, no book gave a clue on where to look…

It felt...futile.

And so she couldn’t sleep, because she had to memorize everything about him. Every way he moved when he fell into a ghostly slumber, how his hair curled up into flame when she’d surprise him with a hug, how she’d catch him singing lullabies gently to her when he thought she was out cold. Because who knew how long she had.

Every second that passed, she stored in her memory. 

Nothing would take this away from her.

 

 

The van chugged steadily along the freeway, sailing over a concrete path as the team followed the straight-shot road towards their quickly nearing hometown. It was hardly past noon, and yet the merciless rain was relentless outside as it pounded away at their windshield. Going below the speed limit in response to the limited visibility, Arthur was squinting through the glass and water in an attempt to better see the road and cars ahead, the set of wipers nearly useless with the downpour that assaulted them. Others zipped by impatiently, but so long as they were moving the team felt they could manage the slowed pace.

Vivi was still wrapped up in her ongoing ‘research’, huddled in the back with Mystery and surrounded by one of their many blankets. Eyes zipping over the page at lightning speed, she pet her dog decisively to the beat of the bumps of the freeway beneath them, making little to no noise as the surrounding ambiance filled in her thoughts for her. The same thing, each and every time, the same bullshit answer she just wouldn’t accept this time around.

No known way...searching for years...dead-end, excuse the pun...no success…

She could feel her chest fighting to take flight from beneath her cowering lungs, lifting and twisting into knots below her breast like a snake gripped behind its head. Fear? Possibly. But at the same time, the hair on her arms was rising and the blood grew hot beneath her skin, rearing to fight what might make others cower and lose sight of the future. Hope? No. Anger, hatred towards the injustice that wrapped its long, greedy fingers around her ribs like poison ivy. Determination that she would not give up, because Vivi never gave up.

But everything was too loud in her head: the continuous hum of the heater on full blast, whistling of the wind through the passenger window they could never quite get closed, the windshield wipers screeching and screaming at her from behind the gentle and urgent chatter of Lewis and Arthur up front. Her head was filling to its breaking point, it had no room to stretch, she felt it tighten in her lungs...she had to plug it out, turn it all off. 

The hand petting Mystery pulled away, and the dog looked up at her with confusion in his eyes as she closed her’s tight and plugged her ears, shutting it all out as her senses overloaded.

There has to be a way. I can’t give up just yet.

She opened her eyes, staring straight forward. The world sounded like she was underneath the water, she could almost envision herself gently rolling along as the waves pushed and pulled her rhythmically, back and forth in time with her breathing. Eery sound muffled by the gentle flow of blood through her ears and rippling tides rocking her to sleep ...

He isn’t a lost cause. I can save him this time.

The murmur of her friends was becoming louder, more persistent as she pressed her fingers deeper into her ears. Something was nudging against her side, but she pushed that feeling away, not letting it distract her as she finally felt herself achieve some sense of peace, a glimpse at calm. Still, the longer she waited, the louder the two up front became. She just needed a little more time to calm down, just a little more…

Suddenly, the van jerked to the side. Her laptop, as well as many of the team’s objects and her own body, were cast across the van as Arthur veered to the side of the road in a panic. She fell forward and onto her face, an old dreamcatcher of her’s falling gently onto her back as she slowly rose to find out the cause of panic.

Her hand lifted to her mouth, and tears began to fill her eyes.

Arthur was pressed up against the door, eyes lighted in fear as he pushed as much of himself as far away from the passenger’s seat as possible, chest rapidly fluttering as he became no more than a barn mouse. There was silence now, even if the rain pounded and the wipers still howled at them alongside the wind, it was quiet compared to their screaming thoughts. The ringing in Vivi’s ears drowned that out, got rid of everything except for the light crackling coming from the front seat.

Lewis was out of control.

Scorch marks smoldered and pink flames jumped from his head like hungry fish jumping, climbing. He had grown in size, swelling and rising to fill his half of the van with heat and light as his gaze held Arthur’s threateningly. Every inch of him was shaking, anticipating, ready to lash out at any moment with flame or tongue or maybe even something worse as he clenched his hands tight. She could feel his ill will in the pit of her churning stomach.  
Arthur and Vivi were shaking, but for different reasons.

Movement returned to the group as a puffed up Mystery, fur on end and eyes focussed, growled loud and low at the ghost in the van, prompting Arthur to nervously smile and Vivi to stand up and take a few steps forward. She steadied herself on the couch cushions in back as she prepared herself to intervene, not noticing the gentle red light that laced around Mystery like a curse. Lewis began to deflate, bit by bit, an exhale leaving him to look down at his hands with dazed eyes and confusion, begging his palms for an answer. Arthur still wouldn’t move.

“I-I’m sorry, Arthur. We...we should stop for the night.”

The ghost turned towards the window, head still down as the mechanic continued to shiver against the cold glass of the window without making any attempt to detach himself. They were frozen in time, a moment which they’d all rather forget sticking them in a place that made them remember.

When they finally did make their way to the motel-Lewis staying in the van for the night, by his request-everything felt incomplete. They were a part of a sentence that hadn’t yet met its period, their thoughts and feelings and general existence running on without end. She was numb, he was anxious. As Arthur fell onto the bed he almost expected the ceiling to fall down around them. He wanted to fill the silence, but didn’t have the heart to.

“Arthur...what happened?”

She had been so afraid, so wrapped up in her own little reality that she hadn’t even thought to pay attention to the ones who meant the most to her, and look what had happened. Her fears, the very thing she was trying so hard to prevent was staring down at her through pink lenses and a crooked smile. This wasn’t the way she was supposed to go about this, it was all wrong.

“I...I…” Arthur began, his gaze still hyper focused on the popcorn ceiling above them, “I really don’t know, Viv, it all happened so fast…”

He felt the bed shift as she lay down beside him, arms pressed together with nothing but the bumpy beige above them to inspect or think about. There was a rift, a tear down the middle of his chest, gaping and large that had reopened tonight as any remnant of confidence had been expelled from his body. There was a gap between them. He paused for a moment before reaching around and wrapping her up in a tight hug, which she reciprocated in turn. Arthur could feel the sting of tears prick at his eyes, and as she shuddered beside him he knew she was hurting too.

“I couldn’t see through the windshield, so I told him we had to stop for the night. That we should wait until tomorrow to make it back home, but he was so adamant, so stubborn. He kept telling me to keep going, that we had to make it there tonight, and then when I told him I couldn’t he...well, he…” he bit his lip, feeling her look up at him as his chest grew tight and he forgot how to breathe all over again, “You don’t think he hates me again, do you?”

Vivi was searching his face. He looked so full, brimming with all these conflicting emotions and stories and paradoxes that kept him from looking at her now. She thought of all the times the four of them had been happy in the past couple months, how loud Lewis could laugh and how gently Arthur would snort at his own jokes. How beautiful this time around had been.

“No, Arty, he doesn’t hate you...he’s just…” she could feel her voice hitch as she tried to form the words. Losing himself? Giving up? Leaving us?

She buried her head six feet into his vest when she couldn’t hold it anymore, realizing just how different he felt against her cheeks. Bony and lean and familiar, not at all like the gentle muscle she called her’s every night. This was where she had begun, where she had started to form herself. Her beginning was Arthur, and yet she wanted Lewis so badly, wanted to confirm to her senses that he was still the person she loved so much.

“He’s a ghost, Arthur. He’s a ghost and there’s no way we can save him, he’s going to kill you if we don’t release him, and then I’ll lose you both. We have to let him go, or I’ll lose you both. That’s what Mal told me.” 

He was almost at a loss for words, holding her there and for once being the force that kept her from falling apart and not vice versa. Every bit and piece of her Arthur held in his hands as she shivered and shook, and he ran lazy fingers through her hair with breath gently shushing from between his teeth. Every sob, every deep inhale she took to try and combat the tears streaming from her face made him wish more and more that he could take all that pain away from her, that he could be the vessel for every bad thing she had ever felt. Vivi was not meant to cry.

He never wanted to see a tear leave her eyes ever again.

Outside the window, he saw lightning flash and felt her grow stiff and tense beneath him. Her mouth moved against his chest, and he knew she must be counting. With every second that passed without the booming of thunder’s response, she became more and more relaxed in his arms.

She was calming down now just a little bit, her body all bunched up against his as she hiccuped quietly and rhythmically. Arthur, no longer laced with fear, felt only the sporadic bursts of electricity now behind his ribs, racing around his heart. Lightning was coursing through his bloodstream, pushing against his skin and his tongue and fighting to be let out. He pulled Vivi away, holding her shoulders as the two sat up and he looked her straight in the eyes.

“Old Mal doesn’t know shit, Viv. She’s just a bitter old hag who can’t stand to see how happy you are, you hear me? You’re just too bright for her, and so she’s trying to snuff you out, okay?” His hands shook her just a little bit, she had never seen him this angry before, “Because we are a family now. We are a family, and having each other is enough. Lewis and I aren’t going anywhere, capisce?”

She was the one to avert her gaze this time around, swiping at her running nose as she blinked furiously, “But I’ve been researching it Arty, and what she said is right. All ghosts revert back to their most primal instincts, and that means...that means you-”

“You know what that tells me? That tells me that whatever amateurs tried to save their ghost friends before us didn’t have a Vivi on their team, because any team with a Vivi knows that giving up isn’t in your vocabulary. Let’s make a list, shall we?” He looked up in fake thoughtfulness preparing to count off all her accomplishments on his fingers, “I tried to avoid you when we first met for, like, months and you still showed up at my house constantly to make sure I was okay and still your friend, you somehow got my frightened ass to join a ghost hunting team with you and travel the country with someone I didn’t know in my own van, you have never left a case unsolved even if it nearly costs you your life, you faced Remi and-”

“Alright, alright, enough already.” She was smiling just a little bit, her lips wanting to laugh but her heart still weighed down by the anchors that pulled her deeper and deeper into the ocean. She felt like she was suffocating, and yet she still found the words.

“I know, I usually don’t give up. But I don’t know where to look, Arty! I’ve checked every online resource I know of and then some, gone through library archives and witch blogs, everything I can think of. I don’t even have a lead of any sort!” She crossed her arms, fingers hugging her shoulders, “And now, you’re in danger. If I lost you, Arthur, what would I have? Lewis would pass on to the afterlife, and even if he didn’t, how could I love him knowing he took away the most important person in my life? How could I live knowing I could have stopped him? Maybe...maybe I need to give up, just this once.”

He sighed heavily, nodding animatedly, “Maybe you’re right. Or maybe there’s one place you haven’t looked, and that’s where you’ll find some secret ritual that saves all of us and we live a happy-ever-after life, all four of us, together.” When she looked back at him, she could see the yearning in his eyes, bright and golden, “All I’m asking is that you go to him. Go to him now, and take some time to think, Vivi. Be happy, and then decide. Because I truly believe we can get through this together, but only if we have you.”

Her head bobbed up and down as she sniffled again, “I...I’ll try.”

He clapped her on the back, and she found her footing again with her socks to the carpet and her chest hiding somewhere deep underground. 

 

 

“Lulu, open the van, hunny. I need to see you.”

An hour had passed and it was starting to grow dark, thunder roaring and lightning flashing every few minutes as the storm washed over the city they were spending the night in. Vivi had composed herself after a shower with the heat so hot she couldn’t hear her thoughts over the steam and a fresh change of clothes, now sopping wet in the downpour. Shivers ran down her spine as she felt water droplets sneak down her light jacket, and she wished that they had not left their umbrella in the van.

“Come on, baby. It’s cold out here, and you have all the umbrellas. Let me in.”

A phantom umbrella opened above her, shielding the rain without the back door of the van budging. If that ghost hadn’t jammed all the locks with ectoplasm, she would have given him quite the stink eye.

“Lewis, you’re being ridiculous! Open the van!”

“...No.”

Usually, his voice was so distinct and obvious. Either loud, or complex, or simply captivating; here, it sounded like a whimper, a whisper of wind through her hair and into her ears. Was she truly hearing him, was that really Lewis in the back of the van?

“And why not, Lulu. What’s got you so worked up?”

A pause, a long pause. The kind that makes you second guess your question, or wish that you had never asked it to begin with. She shuffled back and forth, rubbing her hands over her arms quickly as she grew colder and colder. 

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

She rolled her eyes so hard, she imagined Lewis could hear it. He could feel it through their tether at the very least, “Oh. My god, Lewis. Don’t pull that on me. I’m a big girl, I can handle you. Just let me into the damn van so I can hug your face and maybe get some warmth into my old lady bones.”

A flash of lightning streaked across the sky and the thunder followed shortly after. Out of habit, she counted the seconds in between, thinking back to when she was terrified of the noises of the storms and how Arthur had quelled her fears. How he had made it into an experiment, a game. The lock to the van clicked, ectoplasm expelled and unlocked. She really wished he was beside her right now.

When she entered, Lewis was still in the front passenger seat, belt on as if he hadn’t moved an inch since they had gotten here. She wouldn’t have been surprised if that were true. 

Without hesitation, she climbed onto his lap to look straight into his eyes. The light had gone out as he stared straight forward, unblinking or moving or speaking. It was as though he had shut down completely, left the real world to take refuge in his mind. He didn’t react as she turned around and cuddled into him, wrapping his arms around her and sitting with him there in silence.

She could think of a million questions, a million things to try and make him feel better. But sometimes, silence is the most effective mender.

“I love you.”

Never had a smile felt more bittersweet to her, so final as his broken voice wrapped around her and tried to hold her steady, but it’s hard to keep others from falling down when you find yourself unbalanced as well. She still felt so fragile. 

“I can’t go home.”

She looked up at him, the top of her head resting on his chest, prompting him to continue. He still stared straight ahead, his voice no more than a phantom.

“Why can’t we go home?”

“No, I can’t go home, Vivi,” he finally broke his staredown with the rain outside, slowly tilting his head down in her direction with no light, no fire shining bright, “I don’t want to hurt you, or Arthur. I don’t want to hurt my family.”

“Lew-”

“I thought I had control, now. That everything was fine. But what if I hurt my mother, my father, Amado, Marisol...Perla…” he looked straight ahead again, “No, I can’t see them. Not like this.”

Lightning, and then the rumbling thunder. 1...2...3...that strike must have been pretty close, within a mile. She couldn’t find words, she could only listen to her fears as they hummed low and deep in her throat, a bass drum, thunder.

“It isn’t your fault, Lewis.”

Suddenly, his arms weren’t around her anymore, his hands clenched in a fist, his fist swinging around to hit the door of the van hard with little wisps of fire climbing up into the night. At the last second, he phased his arm, allowing the punch to pass through and leave the van unharmed. She didn’t move, didn’t try to get away from him. She only looked at him with the utmost, unconditional love.

“It is my fault! I’m strong and weak in all the wrong ways! All this power but no discipline, no will. Nothing to stop me from hurting-no, killing-the people I love. Nothing to stop me from turning into...turning into…” he couldn’t say it, couldn’t get it out of his mouth. If bones could age, he looked like he had grown a million years old in just a few short hours.

She lifted a hand to the side of his face, and at first he pulled away. Her eyes were tired, exhausted, her sky growing dull and cloudy as the summer ended and fall covered the ground with dead leaves and rainwater. He wondered, how could she love him?

“Lewis Garza, I am not afraid of you. You are not a monster.” She placed a hand on his heart, head to his chest as she stared at her fingers wrapping around the locket, “You are mine, and I will be here everyday, reminding you. Every morning when you wake up, every night when you beg me to go to sleep, I’ll be right here beside you. That will never change.”

She could feel his chest rise as he inhaled in surprise, looking at her as she repeated his oath back to him with a crackling voice and warm arms. He searched her desperately as she reached up to press her forehead against his, eyes slowly lighting and ghostly tears jumping to meet her thumbs as she brushed them away. 

“I won’t let it change.”


	26. Burn Victims

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur isn't sure he wants to be the designated scaredy-cat anymore. After all, isn't bravery been his goal from the get go?  
> But is it really worth it?

“Viv, do you always have to find the most dangerous hunts?”

She looked up from her spot on the floor, Arthur and Lewis’ eyes meeting hers as she shuffled the papers on her notepad, gently searching the pages for carefully written detail from the nights before. The air in the van was still tense despite the days that had passed in peace, and as she breathed crispy cold air and watched her boys with love she could feel a little prick of insecurity towards her choice.

“Actually, Art, I think this is the best offer we’ve been given yet, if you really think about it,” Lewis piped up, his voice somewhat timid but still trying as it tapered off at the edges, “I mean, it sounds like just one vampire, we’ve taken on worse odds...and you said a dhampir would be teaming up with us?”

The team had been holed up in the same motel as before, living with the same old fears as before. Days had passed where Lewis refused to be anywhere near Arthur, using Vivi as a middleman in order to make his peace and apologies up until she fell sick; not drying off after standing in the rain and snow two days in a row will do that to even the strongest of immune systems. Even then, when Arthur had to come to visit the van to drop off saltines and soup, Lewis steered clear of him in an attempt to prevent any further damages. It was Vivi’s hope that, once again, a hunt would help them mend.

This time, though, she wanted to make sure she didn’t put anyone in danger.

Her telltale eyes flicked to the colorful notes beneath her, letters curving together and escaping her runaway thoughts as she spoke back. She was finding adventure yet in the words beneath her fingers, “Yeah, our client is half vampire. Said she wouldn’t be above helping us out, but she didn’t give a name. Says she doesn’t want too many people knowing who she is.”

“And dhampirs make the best vampire hunters, anyway. I’m surprised she didn’t just take this on herself, to be honest.”

Arthur looked away, running a hand through his hair with the imprint of a grimace turning his face sour. 

“I don’t know guys, sounds kinda fishy to me…”

“More fishy than the alternative? I don’t really feel up to hunting merpeople again, those guys are nasty.” Vivi interrupted his fears, letting a smile curve her face upwards in play. Arthur groaned loudly before shaking his head and throwing his hands up, but he couldn’t hide the smile that tugged at the corners of his eyes.

“Fine, if you’re going to make bad puns at me I guess we’ll go for the vampire,” he said, climbing to his knees and stretching his hands overhead, “but only ‘cause it’s so close by, and I don’t want to do so much driving today with the weather being so shitty the past week. We good on garlic and stuff?”

Lewis leaned over, flipping open a plastic bin titled ‘vampires’ in messy black Sharpie. By the stench that radiated from the box, the team could only assume that they were good.

“So, V. Details?”

She looked up at Lewis a second before glimpsing back down at her notepad, finding the entry that she had filled out. Just a couple days after the convention, the team had gotten a couple calls from possible clients, but with the anticipation of going home on their minds they had gently turned down the majority at first. Without that as a possibly…

“Well, it’s at the hospital I was in after the poltergeist. People throughout the hospital are showing signs of vampire presence, you know, usual stuff. Recently the church within the hospital was vandalized and all birds have left the area it would seem, not to mention the bites of course are a pretty tell tale sign.” she flipped forward, scanning the page once more, “They seem to be targeting people who can’t possibly remember being bit. People with amnesia, dementia, you get the gist. Two have died, and three others have been bitten. No cameras show a presence.”

Arthur climbed up and into the front seat, sailing over a sleeping Mystery on the cushion next to him as he made himself comfortable, “Yikes.”

“Yeah, yikes indeed. Any sign of their age? Maybe some new patients with weird ritual markings? Has anyone turned?” Lewis asked, his body relaxing just a little as Arthur left his line of sight and the danger it meant. Vivi shook her head, closing the notepad and setting it aside.

“Nope, all of the patients admitted in the last month seem clear of symptoms, however I did notice that the town over has been boasting about chasing their local vampire coven out. I’m sure it’s a straggler from over there, probably a young one with how sloppy they are.”

The van started, popping and sputtering before falling into her usual rhythm and jerking forward towards their new destination, heading away from home if only by a detour route. Vivi could see the signs along the highway, coaxing her back to her own bed...she looked away and down, but not before catching Lewis’ eyes. He looked distraught as he shielded his window with a blanket.

They didn’t have far to go, their destination was just down the highway, but as Vivi pulled out their work phone to call and confirm the details with their client she could feel herself growing antsy with the quiet that fell over her world once again. She wished her boys would chatter again and fill the silence, if only for a little while. She had loved just how full she felt with their laughter mixing together, their sarcastic and teasing voices dancing around each other as though they were really, truly, best friends once more. All of the pieces to her heart had been put back into place, and yet the moment she thought the cracks had healed over she was finding an emptiness haunting her.

When they finally did pull into the guest parking lot, she almost didn’t recognize the hospital. It was no longer covered in snow and nearly deserted, the parking lot empty save for a few ambulances and the occasional rundown vehicle. Suspicion could do that to a place, she only hoped she could help.

“Our client said she’d meet us at the cafe just across the street here. Again, she doesn’t want anyone to really know her...true identity. So keep quiet about it, got it?” With a nod from Arthur and Lewis both, she pulled a stake out from the rancid bin, “Just in case. Arthur, you should come with me this time around. I might need back-up and I’m sure cafes don’t allow dogs.”

He breathed heavily. If Vivi had been afraid of thunderstorms, Arthur had been debilitated by his overwhelming fear of vampires and any variation of them. When he was young, that had always been the monster he would find under his bed. Of course Vivi had a field day with this, hanging garlic from the curtains and giving him a stake to keep under his bed, but even now that they had the resources to survive…

“Uh, Vivi, dhampirs are different. I mean, if she really isn’t on our side…” He looked at the weapon that she was hastily shoving into the holster beneath her skirt, hidden and out of sight, “I mean, that isn’t going to do a thing. They’re, like, super vampires.”

“Oh, this? It isn’t for our client, it’s more for afterwards,” she smoothed out her clothes before walking over to Lewis and taking his heart, allowing him to retreat for the time being, “no, I don’t think she’d attack us in a public place like that. And even if she did, what’s a dhampir’s one weakness?”

She could feel the warmth Lewis radiated as he blushed orange with pride, “Powerful magic!”

“And we have just the specter for the job, wouldn’t you say?” Vivi’s smile was smooth, like calm waters as the lake grows still with rest on a warm night, “We’ll be okay. I promise.”

She opened the van doors, Lewis tucked gently into his special pocket in her backpack. Arthur took a moment, looking down at Mystery as he didn’t move from his ball on the couch cushion and pondering his next move carefully with a bite to his lip before climbing out after her, bobbing head bouncing like a buoy on rising waves. Maybe, their next hunt would lead them to a witch who could turn people into dogs. Arthur felt he’d be much better at sleeping than hunting, anyway.

The cafe they walked into was no Starbuck’s, that was for sure. Only one barista milled about behind the cafe counter as though stuck in a spell, the tables occupied by two people only and by the vacant expression on the second’s face there was really only one patron truly there today. Sipping her coffee and staring out the window, arms crossed gently over one another as she waited...she looked strikingly familiar to the two, dark brown hair and olive skin, a stern face that didn’t soften by the gentle cloudy light filtering through the window…

Her face turned, honey-amber eyes meeting bright blue in a shock.

Vivi gasped.

“Holy shit Viv, is that-”

A hand shot out, grabbing Arthur’s vest drastically as she turned to her partner with eyes wide and pleading and confused, yet still tinged with that nasty ‘I-told-you-so’ smugness she had perfected so wonderfully. Her heart was racing at a thousand beats per minute with just that simple glance, her breath fighting her attempts to slow down. She could feel Lewis gently reach his spirit out towards her, but she was too frazzled to really notice.

“Ah, Vivi. I had a suspicion that you might be the one meeting me today, the real estate business hasn’t exactly been booming as of late. The practice has grown small, I must say,” Dr.Sibyl Price, Vivi’s former physical therapist, stood to meet the team as their leader had a mini crisis in the cafe, “But what does that matter? You said you had a few houses within my price range? With the recent attacks I am looking forward to leaving this neighborhood.”

Vivi composed herself quickly, hiding the story on her face behind a polite smile as her brain pieced evidence together and began to play along. She should’ve been an actress. From the get-go, she had known that something had been...different about this woman, that the way she stared at her couldn’t have just been a worried PT looking out for her patient. But as a new possibility jumped out at her there was no way that she could have been prepared. A dhampir? Definitely not something she had seen coming, not by a long shot.

“Of course, Ms.Price,” she pushed aside her thoughts to focus more on the task at hand, her fingers reaching into her bag to pull out an unlabeled folder that she set gently on the table before pulling her chair aside and seating herself, “Arthur, would you mind grabbing me some coffee? We have a lot to discuss here.”

Arthur was wholly confused. 

He looked at Dr.Price. A dhampir, and then down at the folders Vivi had brought out...real estate? Housing? Discuss?

He decided that this confusion was best spent grabbing coffee rather than the alternative, or standing with his mouth gaping like a fish out of water. Might as well have been with just how foreign this exchange had been to him. 

“Yes, so where to begin?” Vivi was in her element now, taking control of the situation as she flipped the folder open. An array of photos, notes, and speculation jumped up from the folds of the portfolio, a conglomeration of hunts long behind them. Sibyl glanced over them, face turned sideways as she continued to fake a story.

Arthur came back with the coffee, and Sibyl leaned back, unamused, “I don’t think these are quite what I’m looking for. Do you have anything else, maybe? Something you don’t show other clients?”

Vivi took the cup the Arthur offered her, delighted by the winding tendrils of caramel that reached up to greet her nose within the steam. Her smile was mischievous, playing as she stood up just as Arthur sat down. He groaned.

“Well, I might have something in the van. Come on, it isn’t too far…”

Sibyl was the one to close the portfolio, standing up with the folder in her hands and a curious look on her face. Arthur was giving Vivi the stink eye.

They took off at a brisk pace, through the parking lot a second time and back home. Truly, Arthur had wished they had stayed in the cafe for at least a little while longer; not only was it a change of scenery, but it was public, somewhere neither the vampire nor this...client would probably dare to attack them. He could feel the stake in his pocket burning a hole through his vest.

“Alright, Dr.Price,” Vivi was opening the back of the van again to find Mystery up and about, a paw to the door as he waited for the team to come back. Vivi placed Lewis on the couch in the back after she climbed up and into the van, allowing him to form again with his legs crossed and an arm around her back, spread out and somewhat larger than usual as he tried his best to be intimidating. Sibyl seemed taken aback for a moment, but hid that quickly as she leaned against the wall gently.

“You brought a ghost with you? Should I be offended?” Her voice had dropped this time as she spoke, no longer the sickeningly sweet-as-honey and fake-as-Splenda from before. Vivi shrugged, her smile just a tad cocky.

“Take it as you will, we have a job to do. The vampire?”

Arthur had a revelation.

“Wait a second here. Was the real estate thing in there supposed to like. Be a ruse? In case the vampire was listening in?” he ran a hand through his hair, laughing nervously to himself as he gestured to the outside of the van from the doorway, “You do realize we kinda have a huge logo on the side of the van? Like, anyone can tell we aren’t a real estate agency.”

Vivi swatted her hand at him as if her were a pesky bug, “Oh, but what’s the fun in not being secretive? You have no imagination Arty.”

Sibyl cleared her throat, loudly. Vivi turned back to her, slightly irritated.

“The vampire, as in our current objective, has been following a pretty set pattern. They use donated blood just as I do most nights, but once a week they decide they need a fresh meal. And that weeknight would be tonight, wouldn’t you know.”

Vivi was jotting things down on her notepad again, utterly focused on the task at hand, “Any plans?”

“They clearly target a specific demographic, and I just so happen to know their next likely target,” Sibyl was rustling around her purse. Arthur could see Lewis tense slightly in response until she lifted a piece of paper, folded yet still new, to hand to Vivi.

“Martin Das?”

“A young gentleman who came in a couple days ago. Car accident victim, short-term memory loss...and no known family in the states,” she crossed her arms, glancing over at Arthur with those bright amber eyes locking him in place, “easy prey if you ask me. And let go of the weapon, kid, it ain’t worth it.”

He hadn’t even realized where his hand was, hovering over the curse in his pocket out of habit and anxiety more than anything else. Vivi’s eyes glanced from Sibyl to him as well before landing back on their client, her lips pursed and unamused.

“You have to admit, Price, this does sound kinda fishy. Why don’t you just take this vamp on yourself? I mean, you should have the capabilities…”

“Look, you’re young. Probably feel like you’ve seen a lot in your life, whatever. In the end, kid, you’re mortal,” she locked eyes with Lewis, gripping Vivi’s shoulder with his hand as the dhampir grinned halfheartedly, “not all of us are so lucky. I quit that kinda life a long time ago. I’d rather pay kids like you to go out and do it than get my hands dirty, I’ve had enough myself. So, take my information, take my money, and have fun.”

Lewis broke her stare first, looking down and away. She scoffed a little, almost unnoticeable as Vivi closed her notepad gently and stood up.

“Fine, we’ll take it. Anything else you might’ve left out?”

Sibyl turned to glance over the contents of the van with a tinge of worry wrinkling her eyes at the edges, “The cameras tend to go black at around 11:30 pm, and garlic doesn’t seem to be effective. A lot of families have tried to protect their kin with simple things like that to no avail, they must have a tolerance,” her hands wrapped around the lid of their vampire box, lifting it with a scrunched nose as the overpowering smell of garlic met her, “so maybe focus more on the crosses, holy water, etcetera. It must be at least a little inconvenient if this vamp has to destroy our hospital’s holy places.”

“Sounds like a plan, then,” Vivi stood up quickly, grabbing Lewis expertly as he retreated once more into his heart mid-air, as though she had practiced, “we got everything we need, Arty?”

He had jumped from the back of the van, skittish, “Yeah, probably? Why are you asking me this.”

Sibyl laughed a little, looking Arthur up and down, “I always liked you, at least you’re honest. Don’t know how you haven’t died yet, I guess death likes his little pet, eh?”

Arthur was already past her, grabbing Vivi’s backpack and hurrying ahead as she checked the van one more time to make sure she wasn’t missing anything. She felt cold without Lewis near, but she knew her friend felt a lot better about this hunt with a ghost to protect him. He was fake laughing, loud in his attempts to disperse his distress.

“Oh hardy-har, guess who doesn’t care? Me. That’s who.”

Vivi went to follow now, certain that everything and everyone was accounted for with her dog on her heels and pricks of excitement lighting her feet on fire, but she felt a cold hand wrap around her shoulder, holding her back. She turned to Sibyl, chilling eyes searching hers.

“You. You’re mortal, but you’re different, aren’t you?” Her voice was a whisper, flicking back and forth between Vivi’s eyes as though her answer would be hidden in the reflection of her face, “I thought it a fluke before, but it’s still here. And you don’t have a clue, huh? I thought you rude, but now I simply think you dull.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” 

The dhampir bit her lip, finally focusing on her with an exhale of strangely quiet breath, “You’re...something else. Mentally. An oracle? A witch?” She looked away quickly, frustrated, “Yes. No. Maybe?”

Vivi jerked her arm away, stepping back as her client became lost in thought. Her hand stayed in the air as though she were still holding her shoulder, her eyes closed and voice mumbling to the wind.

“Look, Sibyl, thanks for the job. But you’re really kinda creeping me out. Are you sure this whole immortality thing isn’t taking a toll on you?”

That’s when Sibyl looked back up at her, smile wide and threatening, “Oh, what a toll it will take on you in time, godling.”

 

 

Arthur’s favorite place to nap was not the broom closet.

And yet, that’s where he woke up with the banging of a hand on the door and a flustered, hurried voice through the thin walls of the hospital. His neck felt as though it had been bent a thousand different and equally wrong ways, his hand was numb after leaning against it for however many hours he had been there for, and his head…

Oh, his head.

“Hey orange slice, it’s eleven. We should probably start getting ready.”

He rubbed the kinks in his neck harshly with a cold metallic hand, contorting his face as he rubbed the knots from his shoulder and cracked his spine a couple times, “Alright, I’m coming.” He stood up, bouncing from foot to foot gently to try and regain feeling in his sleeping legs. Ready was not something he would currently use to describe himself.

Outside, the hospital was dark and quiet. Terribly understaffed and without many patients, the medical facility was hardly making it by anymore, and though it was probably illegal Arthur had to appreciate just how empty the place was at this time of night. Still, as he pushed through to find his teammates huddled together in the hallway, he wondered if the lack of security might be detrimental to their safety in the end.

“...and of course they don’t show up on screen, but get this-oh, Arty! Nice of you to join us.”

Lewis made a noise as though he were clearing his throat as the excited hunter grew sidetracked yet again, “Vivi…” he warned, and yet his voice was so softly spoken that it might have been nothing more than a playful whisper if the circumstances were different. She jumped a little, catching herself with that energy surging from her face in contagious waves. 

“Oh, yeah, right. We can’t see them on the camera, but i did notice certain...disturbances while I was watching the halls. Curtains in front of closed windows moving gently, tables and chairs moving aside, most importantly the glass of water on one of the nurses’ stations fell and shattered with no one around! I think there’s someone else here, and I think they might just be our vampire!”

Lewis nodded, solemn. “Well then, we need to be prepared for a fight. They clearl-”

“Don’t worry, I got everything packed and ready! And we have the element of surprise on our side, so-”

Her words were cut off by Lewis’ hand over her mouth, a sudden ripple of movement as he gently enveloped her and pulled her aside and against the wall. At first, her eyes screwed up in irritation at her phantom before they were spread wide by realization, followed shortly by fear. She grew still, quiet.

Footsteps.

She was hidden in shadow as Lewis covered her completely, growing dark and blending in with the area around him like a chameleon. Vivi couldn’t close her eyes, not with the growing anticipation of a confrontation loomed in front of her, tantalising and new, and yet as those footsteps grew nearer she felt her lungs constrict and she had to wonder why she was growing so worried.

Arthur!

He stuck out like a sore thumb in the dark, strong and bright as a flickering candlestick as he pressed himself against the wall, fumbling frantically at the broom closet door once again. It had locked on him, or maybe he was simply too afraid.

A silhouette turned the corner, and Arthur froze.

“Hey, kid! What do you think you’re doing?”

Relief, a flood of rain water to quench the droughts of their desert land as all three of them began to relax a little. Okay, getting arrested by a police officer wasn’t exactly the definition of a successful mission, but then again it was better than the alternative.

The heels of the officer’s shoes against the linoleum were as loud as gunshots as the team continued to hold their breath. Lewis slowly moved a hand down to grip Vivi’s, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. Something was horribly, terribly off.

A flash of red eyes, sick and crazed with hunger, was all she needed.

“Arthur, watch out!”

She pushed against Lewis just in time, hearing the increase in the guard’s footsteps and feeling rather than seeing the shift in demeanor as his teeth elongated and his breath grew ragged, quickened. She was fighting Lewis with all of her strength as he tried to keep her hidden. It was all happening so fast, too fast.

The vampire stood with a hand pressed against Arthur’s chest, claws elongating from hands shivering and shaking with hunger and anticipation. Any noise that he attempted to make was silenced by the impending doom showering down around him, sticking in his throat and vowing never to free even a whimper. The vampire leaned down, inhaling deeply with white teeth shining.

“I am so, so very hungry, it has been so long since I’ve had a healthy meal. And you, you’re so, so very scared. Do you know how delicious fear makes you? Adrenaline, it tastes so much better than just blood alone. It is just coursing through your veins, love.”

Vivi was biting her tongue, muscles screaming as Lewis held her still. He was watching, waiting, but she couldn’t understand why. She couldn’t wait any longer, she had to help Arthur before-

“But I smell a second, oh yes, and she smells so very sweet,” the vampire pulled back, clearly fighting hard not to take Arthur then and there, “and angry. Warm. Living. And I do prefer B over A, simply a preference of mine. Now, I might just let you live if you show me where your friend is…”

She watched as Lewis’ eyes squinted, angry. Arthur lifted his chin back, and with the courage of a man facing death he opened his mouth, freed his throat…

And spit in the vampire’s face.

“Go to hell, you son of a bitch.”

The vampire’s breath hitched, face turning away in disgust as Arthur’s gift planted square in the middle of his face. A long, high hiss penetrated the night as the red eyes of the monster flared, bright and shining and wet like blood. She could hear the venom in his throat, could feel the heat from his skin before he even made a move. 

She felt Lewis’ grip release just a little in surprise and she jumped on the opportunity, pulling the stake from beneath her skirt and rushing forward in a flurry of noise and anger. The vampire whipped around towards Arthur, teeth bared and ready to strike at his exposed neck but was caught off guard by the sudden burst of noise from seemingly nowhere. Vivi felt the world tossing around her, and she wasn’t going to let it cast Arthur to sea.

She dug the stake into his shoulder, driving it in and twisting as her target just barely moved out of the way in time. The skin around the wound began to crumble and decay, the vampire screaming in agony as he fell against the wall and struggled to pull the weapon out. He took a moment to breathe, labored and painful, and when he looked back up his eyes were full of bloodlust and his lips were curved in a smile.

“How pathetic. Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic!” He laughed, growing louder and louder as he pulled himself up again. The muscle and skin surrounding the wound pulled together, healing as though nothing had marred him in the first place. Her stake thrown aside, he began moving forward. She could sense Lewis flare into life, preparing to protect her with a rush of purifying flame rising to his hands.

“You think you stand a chance against me? ME? I will eat you alive, I will drain you to the point where your body grows numb and your head grows foggy, but I won’t kill you. I will never kill you. You will suffer for a hundred years, mortal! You will-”

His eyes grew wide, his voice devolved into a cough. Blood-red lips devoid of sound, he fell to his knees for a final time as though he were pleading God to let him finish. Lifting his hands, he cradled the pointy end of yet another stake, sticking through his chest and straight through his heart, finding the target true this second time around. Vivi watched him reach towards her, eyes screaming hatred for a moment longer before, finally, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Arthur stood behind him, perturbed.

“Thank god that’s over with.” He huffed, pulling his stake from the pile of ash beneath him. When nobody responded, he looked up at his team somewhat confused but mostly annoyed. The two stared at him, one with mouth gaping and both with eyes like saucers, “What, I was getting tired of that asshole.”

There was a sudden commotion, and Lewis looked back to see the shadow of a woman standing in the doorway of one of the patient rooms, furiously speaking into her phone, “We need to get out of here, now. Gawking later.” He stepped forward, picking Vivi up like a ragdoll as she continued to try and rationalize what she had just seen, “Thank god we’re in the memory loss unit, or we might have a real problem on our hands.”

 

 

Vivi wasn’t quite sure how they got to the van, or how the van had gotten to the motel. She blinked, and suddenly she was wrapped in a blanket on the couch with her dog nuzzling his way onto her lap, her mind somewhat fuzzy. The silence was crackling in her ears as though she held a seashell against her cheeks. Lewis was pacing the length of the van, Arthur was snacking on the floor. She was still confused.

“Arthur, that was reckless.”

She looked up at Lewis. Everything about him screamed fear, nervousness, anxiety. Even if he hovered well above the ground, she was sure that he was wearing a trail into the van floor with his pacing. Her eyes were transfixed on her best friend, eating Fritos as though nothing had happened.

“What do you mean?”

Lewis paused for a moment, looking at him as though he were crazy, “Spitting in a vampire’s face? When he is literally inches away from you and you have no way of escaping or no way of knowing whether or not Vivi and I can help you?” he placed a hand on either hip like an angry mother chiding a troublesome child, “Not to mention it was totally uncharacteristic! What was up with that? You’re terrified of vampires.”

Arthur shrugged, continuing to shove chips in his face, “I’m trying not to think of it, really. I can be heroic sometimes, too, you know.”

“That wasn’t heroic. That was stupid.”

“Yeah, well tell that to my ego, okay?” Arthur was clearly prickling, his eyebrows crossing as he turned away from the spirit, “I didn’t like how he was talking about Vivi. You of all people should know how that stings.”

“Don’t bring her into this-”

“I will!” Lewis was taken aback by the tone Arthur raised towards him, left speechless as he took a stand against him. After such a night, both of them were looking for a fight, she could feel it in the way they moved.

“Art-”

“Look, Lewis, I know you mean well. But I’ve changed! Yeah, I don’t like what we do, but I’m not some cowardly little...burden anymore. I’m a member of this team, same as you, I go on hunts and I hunt,” he lifted a hand to his shoulder, averting his eyes, “somebody has spent the majority of my life trying to teach me to be brave, and I couldn’t listen to someone talk shit about her and not do something. I wasn’t going to sit and watch things go to shit, okay?”

“But you could’ve gotten both of you killed! If you had just waited, I was going t-”

“No, Lewis!” he was near a shout now, “No more waiting. I’m not going to sit idle anymore.”

Vivi rose, feeling her brain clear just in time to try and intervene as the two began to argue again. This wasn’t going to end well, she could tell. She pleaded with her eyes, begged Arthur to stand down just this once, hoped that he could read the emotion in her face…

“I have spent my entire life watching you two save me while I sit helpless,” as he continued, she could see Lewis swell, small flames dancing on his fingertips, “and I’m not going to let that happen anymore. I’m not going to put you guys in danger saving me all the time. I’m going t-”

“Really? Because I’m pretty sure you ‘being brave’ was a hell of a lot more dangerous than your usual cowering in fear.”

“Lewis…” Vivi reached a hand up towards him, trying to grab his attention if only slightly. He shrugged her hand off, not even acknowledging her as he stared down Arthur.

“Didn’t really feel that way standing over the ashes of that vampire,” he was growing bitter now, his tone biting and unyielding, “and when has danger ever stopped you from running head first into danger? It’s kinda our slogan if you haven’t noticed. Whenever I try and keep us out of danger, you aren’t exactly keen on listening to me.”

The flames were growing now, wrapping around his fists and up his arms as he inhaled quickly and continued to swell and fill the room. Again, Vivi reached a hand out to restrict him, fought against his attempts to push her away, but she wasn’t winning. Arthur wasn’t even looking at him, arms folded and back to the phantom.

“If you listened to me, you wouldn’t be dead. So I’m not going to let you talk over me anymore, alright? I’m-”

“Lewis!”

Arthur turned around to see Vivi pull as hard as she could against Lewis, diverting a ball of flames from hitting him directly on the back of his head, instead letting the fire hit against the metal doors of the van and disperse into spectral nothingness. His jaw dropped, speechless, and he turned back to a crazed Lewis, eyes on fire and hair jumping hungrily to scorch the top of the van. Still, he showed no signs of coming down even after nearly attacking Arthur, and as Vivi continued to pull against him, his voice grew nearly indistinguishable.

“Don’t. Get. Involved!”

It was hard to believe that, moments before, he had been anything but a ghost. The air in the van grew cold and chilly, constricting as though to stop the team’s breath in their throats. Any sign of humanity had been expelled from him in an instant. The van was a whirlwind of light and passion, stemming solely from anger.

He swung around, pushing her away from him hard, hand still cloaked in fire and power unrestrained. She was thrown against the wall with a shout, thrown aside as though she were no more than a pillow, and as she fell to the floor of the van she pulled her feet to her chest with her hands covering her eye. Her breath quickened as she painfully released breath from between her teeth without a whimper or a whine. Arthur rushed to her.

Lewis deflated again. There were tears in Vivi’s eyes as Arthur pulled her hands away from her face, cradling her cheeks and examining the pink, raw skin and charred hair on the right side of her face. The ghost felt detached from the damages at first, but then he saw the burn marks on the ceiling, the soot on the door frame, the pain in her face as she reached a finger to lightly tap against her red, red eye and cheek…

He reached forward, trying to find her through the fog that was surrounding him, “Vivi, I-”

“No.” Arthur’s voice was low and threatening, his shoulders raising like the hackles of a dog as he began to shake with rage. When Lewis didn’t move away, he slapped the ghost’s hand aside, staring holes into his skull as he began to back away, “No! Get away from us!”

Arthur lifted her up, supporting her like an emotional crutch as he threw the back door open. As the two disappeared into their motel room, Lewis could do nothing more than stare at his hands and shiver against the cold that was wrapping around him.


	27. Finding Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur isn't exactly the best when it comes to words, especially after his last attempt at expressing himself ended in literal flame. However, there isn't much of a choice, and with time running out he really has to look at how far he's willing to go in order to bring Vivi back home.

The van was empty when Arthur went back to talk to Lewis.

Nothing moved or attempted to interrupt the stillness from within, nothing broke the veil covering the scene as it was stuck in time, a piece of the past alone in the present. You could’ve heard the drop of a needle there, or maybe the gentle crackling of flames if either had been present.

Given an hour, Lewis had chosen to disappear, to leave the situation that had risen to meet the team. At first, Arthur felt betrayed and bitter, frustrated that the phantom could leave them just like that the moment things went south. But that grouping of emotion was a lie, he knew it.

Many times he wished he had run rather than staying with Vivi, fearing he would hurt her. He never had the guts to do it.

She was standing in the doorway of the motel lobby, the right side of her face blistered and shiny in the lights of the streetlamps. It was early, early morning, the sky still dark but the east growing a powdery grey as the sun prepared to rise up. It was that eerie quiet nothing but the gentle clicking of the nearby ice machine and the buzzing of moths near lightbulbs could break.

He caught her eyes, shaking his head. She grew small.

His hands brushed against the scorch marks on the door, looking down at the soot on his metal fingers and feeling a tinge of worry and fear. Why had he been so abrasive? A second sooner, a footstep over and...he would have been…

Vivi’s hands met his shoulder. He looked away.

“I don’t know why I kept going. I should have just…”

Her thumb ran circles along his back, searching his face with her good eye. Pain, regret understandably, but at least this time she knew the source. As her breathing fell into time with Arthur’s, she was vaguely aware of Mystery shuffling through the boxes and clutter of the van, but she couldn’t take her eyes away from her best friend. Even if her heart was sinking further into her stomach.

“Arthur, this is none of our faults.”

He seemed broken down, wandering away from her to pick up the glowing note on the couch where he had been. “I knew about his...affliction. He didn’t. I could’ve controlled myself. He couldn’t. Now, look what’s happened.”

She went to argue, but the quick and insistent push of the paper in his hand towards her quieted her wavy reply. Honestly, she didn’t feel like she had the voice to contradict him anymore, anyway. Her shivering hands took the paper, pale against the white of the note.

“No…”

Her eyes met the words multiple times, but she didn’t truly absorb it. Over and over, she shook her head and mouthed the letters, but it couldn’t have been true. It couldn’t end this way, not like this...

 

_Arthur, Vivi…I’m dangerous...passing over...don’t look for me...I must do this for you two._

 

“No, Arthur, this can’t be it. This can’t be the end, he wouldn’t...he can’t…”

“But he can, Vivi. Maybe he can’t pass on happily without my death, but you bet he can move on to purgatory. An eternity of restless sleep…” he collapsed onto the couch, eyes glazed over and staring blankly forward, “we’re too late. He’s gone for good.”

She kept shaking her head, whispering to herself. She didn’t have tears anymore, she didn’t have the capacity to hurt anymore than she already did. The paper dropped from her fingers, and she closed her eyes and lifted her hand to her mouth. She found her way to Arthur, head to his chest as she wrapped herself as best she could against him. He hardly moved, only giving his chest space to breathe.

They sat like that for minutes, lifetimes, just absorbed in their mutual universe for what could’ve been forever. Her mind was spinning, his mind was blank. An empty sheet of paper against one soaked in paint, a single sustained note versus a cacophony of sound. Time and time again, she denied his disappearance. Maybe this time around, she’d look up and he'd be standing there, arms open and waiting to tell her it had all been a misunderstanding, a mistake. 

She felt something wet nudging against her hand. When she looked up with hope, it was Mystery she found, notepad between his teeth.

Quietly, she sighed a heavy defeat, gripping the notepad and taking it from his mouth as though her hands were made of dumbbells rather than flesh and blood, “Mystery, you’re getting slobber all over my client notes. I need tha-”

The pages had been turned. In bright sharpie, a doodle of a fairy smiled up at her.

She switched the notepad to her other hand, reaching over towards Arthur as she shook and that little glimmer of swelling hope made a home within her chest. Her eyes found new letters to read over and over again as her heart fell to its knees in worship, her voice prayer, her soul calling out and finding answer. Maybe, just maybe…

“Arthur. Look, we might still have a chance.”

He looked down over her shoulder, scanning the page for himself. Even as he too found that tiny sense of hope, he could feel his own doubts weighing it down and pushing it further and further back into whatever abyss it had been born from. Exhausted, he turned his head back to the ceiling to trace the scorch marks with his eyes.

“I don’t think he’d just go back to the mansion. He said he was going to move on. As in, you know, the ghosty thing,” he sunk further into the couch cushions, eyes unmoving and growing duller as he spoke, “not to mention he’s a piss-poor liar. He wouldn’t’ve been able to leave that note in the first place if he thought he was sticking around.”

“But he might not know that it’s a lie!” she rose, lifting herself forward in a trance, “When he and the mansion faded, he was headed towards purgatory but I...he was still tied to the mansion, and he was still tied to me. I think...I think it takes time to fully pass over. If we get there fast enough, if we can-”

“Viv…”

“Just give me this, Arty.”

Her hands grabbed his, passing the prayer along as she searched his eyes frantically. She was pleading with him, voice soft and sad and low and hopeful. But he was exhausted, his limbs growing heavy as he slowly melted further and further into the van around him. Even opening his mouth to let her down felt like he was breaking her heart with his own two hands for a second time.

“I…” he bit his lip, looking away with worry bright on his cheeks and even brighter in his blush. His voice faltered, crackled, fell away into the pit of his stomach and stayed there with whatever remnants of hope she had kindled within him, if only for a few moments. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again.  
But her eyes were beginning to brighten as she latched onto this sliver of a solution, and how could he bring her down?

“I...yeah. Okay, Vivi, let’s...let’s check this out.”

 

 

She had smiled. Her hands had tightened, her shoulders lifted, and suddenly they were at the mansion as though her willpower alone had transported them there. Arthur had to wonder if she was the ghost instead of Lewis, tethered to this place by her own fascination and curiosity.

The mansion.

They pulled into the street in front of the stone steps, the sun just rising to peak out between the mess of thorns surrounding them like a beacon forward. No lights, pink or otherwise, cascaded or reached from the windows as her memory recalled, and the newness of the ghostly mansion had faded to a dilapidated, crumbling structure marked with misuse and age. Grey, all grey and dark, fading away to the pull of time and the loss of heartbreak and guilt. She felt something in her chest, fear followed by pity chased by uselessness and doubt in herself and her abilities. Did she really believe she could do anything in this, or was she just setting herself up for more pain? 

But the mansion was here, and that is what really mattered she told herself. She still had a chance, even if it was broken and battered and slipping away like eels in water.

She hadn’t even heard Arthur open the back of the van, jumping when the handle jingled and he pulled her door open with a hand offered in support. Her eyes found his good hand with hesitation, she could almost feel how heavy and weighted it must be as he picked her back up and stood her on her feet when even he couldn't find his footing. After all she had been through, all she had done, she hated feeling this vulnerable and dependent. This wasn’t her, this wasn’t how it was supposed to feel, this was...

“It’s okay, Viv. We’ll figure this out.”

A smile, a gesture. His fingers were warm against her freezing heart as she accepted his offer and took his hand, stepping down from the van and taking the first strides towards fixing this mess.

This time around was much less fantastical. When they opened the doors and found their way into the main hall, the music was much gentler, the lights out and the room cold and unwelcoming. It was the same hummed tune, the same gentle ‘mo’, but the ghosts that milled about seemed dazed and distracted. Some carried items in their tiny hands-vases, a tissue box, one had a banana-as they hurried from room to room in frantic turmoil, but most simply wandered. None of them cared about the three visitors as they had previously. There was no show to put on, no concert to perform, simply confusion as they tried to find their purpose once more. She felt bad for the pink things, but what could she possibly do to help?

The team started forward, slowly and carefully stepping further in as the flurry of pink bedsheets danced around them without acknowledgement, hardly diverting their paths in order to avoid running into the mortals. It might have been beautiful if the circumstances were different, but the unrest of the mansion only made Vivi feel more and more unsettled. She pulled a hand to her chest and looked away like a shy child hiding behind her mother’s skirts, letting Arthur lead her forward as she fell silent to the spell of Lewis’ home.

“Okay Vivi, I need your help now. You can feel Lewis, right? You can sense him here?” Arthur had turned to face her, taking her other hand in his metal one as she looked at him, wide-eyed, surprised. She gave a little nod, still too exhausted to speak.

“I need you to tell me where he is. This place is too big, and we don’t have time to search every room,” He gestured with his chin to the sweeping foyer around them, the chandelier shrieking as one of the ghosts brushed against it. She looked around, eyes searching but mind not absorbing the world around her. Even as she nodded, she felt terribly dazed, her mind stumbling through a thick and dark fog as it struggled to find escape.

But still, she needed to focus. She needed to be brave. This was Lewis, her Lulu, and she couldn’t give up on him simply because her mind wasn’t in line with her body. As Arthur squeezed her hands gently, she reached out with her heart and mind and every ounce of her soul, searching and calling and pleading that she might find even the slightest trace of him there.

But then she found him, a flicker of a flame upstairs staring out the window and onto the road below and cursing the implications of the van parked there, and the swell of anger that hit her set her face ablaze again. Crying out, she reached up to cup the burn marks around her eye, feeling the flesh grow hot and painful as she stepped backwards in surprise and nearly tripped on her sudden fear. It was only the strong grip of Arthur that kept her from the floor, holding her elbows tightly as she felt tears prick the side of her eyes.

“Vivi? Viv, are you-”

“Upstairs. Center room, facing the street. He knows we’re here, Arty.”

He looked up, eyes fearful and uncertain as he eyed the steps with his hands making no attempt to let go, “Shouldn’t you be the one who-”

“Arthur, go! We don’t have much time!”

Finally he left as she raised her voice, pausing a second longer before guiding her to the wall so she might find her way to the floor as she continued to nurse her injury as it grew a bright and angry red. It was almost as if it were shouting at him as well.

When he finally tore his eyes away from her, his eyes found the disappearing tails of ghosts rushing past and ahead, following the same trail he mapped when they didn’t simply phase through the walls. There was no notice, no recognition as they raced past him with their odd array of objects-picture frame, bar stool, an old and dated book. That was probably for the best, his nerves were already taking hold of him without their malevolence chasing his heels.

He climbed the stairs, pausing at the top to orient himself now. Top and center, facing the street, but as he lifted his leg to continue onwards it was as if a metal wire running with electricity were holding him back. What could he possibly say to Lewis that would change his mind? Was their anything that his lungs could proclaim that this phantom would listen to, if he was even truly here in the physical sense? Arthur had never been one with words, that had always been their job, and it was his fault that they were in this mess if he were being honest with himself.

From the top he could look down on Vivi, propped against the wall and barely moving save for the rhythmic beating of her chest rising and falling in time with the humming of the ghosts. The deadbeats-Arthur remembered Lewis calling them that, once-were steadily entering and exiting the room behind him in a flurry of pink tails and rushed harmonies. Each time one passed, he could feel himself flinch instinctively. Even if they didn’t care now, they hadn’t exactly been hospitable last time he’d stopped by, and if Lewis was even half as angry at him now as he was last night…

But he couldn’t think about that, not right now. Sure, these seemingly harmless ghosties might just turn on him the instant he opened the door in an attempt to wipe him from the face of the Earth, but what was friendship if not sacrificing your life for the people you care about, huh? 

He just really hoped Lewis had cooled down by now.

When he finally managed the courage to take that first step forward, he watched as the door swung open and flooded the hallway in pink light as though in greeting. The deadbeats seemed to all escape from the room in a hurry, scared away or kicked out by some supernatural force unknown to him, the wind from their departure rustling Arthur’s hair gently despite the gel keeping it in place. A burst of noise, like when you open the car window on a freeway and a semi-truck passes by with horns blazing, filled the air around him with sudden din. He could hardly see inside, it was much too bright. Reflexively, he lifted a hand to shield his face in preparation for the worst.

But then, the light dimmed and the noise dispersed, as though he had driven into a dark tunnel underground instead. Still basking in a gentle light, he found the floor beyond the door cluttered with various objects of varying size, shape, color, importance. When he finally lowered his hands he recognized the vase, tissue box, and banana-now slightly bruised-that had once been carried by the local ghosts littering the room. In the center, Lewis hovered in front of the window, always one for dramatic entrances even if they weren’t his own.

Arthur made an attempt to enter the room, but as he tried to pass the threshold the specter in front of him turned his head to lock him in place with a chilling stare. No matter how much he told himself he wanted to move, it was as though strings were pulling him backwards and back down the stairs, back to his leader and the protection she might offer from this confrontation. He really didn’t think he was cut out for this sort of thing, and as he felt Lewis react he knew he was true. Spectral hands clenched, then released. There was something feral about Lewis now, something that stopped Arthur from thinking let alone moving.

“Why.”

Lewis’ voice brought him back to reality, if only barely. He looked back through the window as he spoke gruffly, hoarsely, leaving Arthur to flounder alone on his words and unable to properly process what he meant. It took awhile before he was able to respond coherently.

“What do you mean, ‘why’?”

“Why are you here.”

Arthur took a tentative step forward despite his reservations, slow and unsure with a hand raised uncertainly in front of him. This was a death wish, he could feel it. “You know why I’m here, Lew. I’m here to bring you back.”

Even as the words left his mouth, he could see the ghost tense up, rising ever so slightly as he grew in dimension with his head lowered like a rabid dog on the hunt. There was a pause, something that lasted a lifetime, and then he deflated again with a heavy exhale. Arthur relaxed, if even only a little.

“You’re making a mistake, Arthur,” his head turned back towards his old friend as he spoke, keeping him locked in the corner of his eye as though he couldn’t look at him straight on, “you need to get out of here, fast. I don’t care if you have to handcuff Vivi to the van, just get both of you out of here long enough for me to-”

“Lewis, I need you to listen to me. Just this once, put everything that you feel aside and listen to what I’m saying, man.”

He was pleading, the desperation in his voice left no doubt about that. The phantom attempted to look at him if even only to show his surprise, but the moment he met the eyes of his team mate he faltered and looked back at the floor, whipped into silence by his own punishing mind. Silence, seclusion in a crowded room. He started to appreciate the clutter if only for the company it kept.

“This isn’t your fault. It really isn’t,” Arthur tried, watching closely as the ghost inhaled and held his breath in his shoulders, trying to gauge whether or not he was angry or simply trying to accept what the other man was saying, “you literally couldn’t control yourself. And I don’t mean that in a ‘you’re hot-headed’ or ‘you weren’t thinking’ kinda uncontrol, I mean in a ‘you are physically not capable of controlling it’ kinda way.”

Lewis was wearing holes into the wooden floors with how intently he was studying it, eyes flashing back and forth against the cracks and deformities of the crumbling boards. Arthur could only imagine what was going through his head, the ghost keeping his silence before he let off a quiet, gentle laugh. Or maybe, it was an uncontained sob. It was hard to tell without the tears or smile to let stray.

“What does that matter, Arthur? I know how ghosts are, that’s why I was...reluctant to accept your offer, back in the hospital room. I wanted to believe that I could be different, that I could be the one ghost that wouldn’t turn on the people he loved, but…” again, he turned to the window, quick enough to hide the tear that fell down his cheekbone, “but look where that’s left us. Look where hoping has put me, Arty, and tell me it was worth it.”

“But it was! Every bit of it was worth it, Lew!” Arthur’s voice sang with hope, with honesty to the point that he almost believed what he knew to be uncertain at best, “Knowing that you don’t hate me, knowing that I’m forgivable, and that we could be friends again was worth it, Lewis. And I know every moment Vivi spent with you, she wouldn’t trade for the world. Yeah, it’s been bumpy, but we’ve still got-”

“Bumpy?” Lewis asked, incredulously, “You would call what I did to Vivi ‘bumpy’?”

“Yes. And I’m just as much to blame as you, man.”

He was leaning against the window frame now, gripping the sill tightly and watching the wood buckle beneath his fingers, no more than a daisy bent by the beginning of a winter storm when met with the strength held behind his anger, his sorrow, “I’m dangerous, Arthur! I’m a monster, and if you give me a few years I’ll be no better than...than the poltergeist! Worse! I’m-”

His words caught in his throat as something collided with his back, wrapping flesh and metal around his stomach and holding on tight. It pulled him to the ground, pushed his feet against the floor as he breathed in quickly with surprise at the roots that had taken a hold of him. Arthur, eyes shut tight as they pressed into the ghost’s back, didn’t even care that his voice was muffled by the fabric of Lewis’ tux-this was what he had, all that he felt he could do in the end. He couldn’t even reach his fingers all the way around the barrel chest of his teammate, but he knew the phantom felt enveloped as something wet hit his hand. He could feel him shift and change beneath him, feel him fill with life. The only thing missing was a pulse.

“You’re our friend. You’re my friend. And god damn it, Lewis, I don’t have any to spare.”

His breathing quickened, his voice grew shrill with pain and weakness, his shoulders shook and trembled with every ragged gasp he took, trying to fill phantom lungs with excuses and lies that might keep those around him safe, “But I...I can’t...Art, I-”

He was cut off by his own choking sob, forgetting about being stoic or embarrassed and letting the sky know exactly how he felt. The clouds, the dusty dusk, the disappearing stars listened to him in silence, but they listened to him nonetheless and brightened and sparkled in response. Everything he felt and relayed was cosmic, everything was too large to be contained in his own spectral essence anymore as he howled and cried. He only wished he could find a way to float among the stars, forgotten and forgetting by this cruel world.

Finally, as he grew quiet and still once more, he found the stars were answering with a familiar voice.“Vivi and I are trying to find something, anything, and I know that we will. But it’s going to take time, and it’s going to go a hell of a lot faster with a third brain on the job,” Lewis felt the branches around him loosen, and wished they would fasten around him again if only for a little while longer, at least until the trails had dried on his cheekbones, “but, no matter what, we aren’t letting you leave us again. I’ll draw the ghost trap myself if I have to, and you know how terrible I am at stuff like that.”

Lewis attempted a laugh as he turned around, lifting a hand to swipe at his cheek as best he could. It sounded as though it had come from an empty husk, but it was a start. Arthur could feel how embarrassed he had grown, still averting his eyes and keeping his silence as he turned away from the window, but despite this he found the little bit of courage left inside his chest and turned it into an outstretched hand, reaching for the fingers of his friend with little to no reservation for once. He knew what it felt to be empty inside, and the only thing to do was to fill that little vacuum with the love he had once felt.

“Just promise me you’ll try, okay? That’s all Vivi and I are asking. You don’t have to be around us 24/7, and you don’t have to believe in what we’re trying to do, but please just...try, to stay here with us. I promise I won’t egg you on anymore, and I might even let you try and get my spice tolerance up a little when we do find this...cure.”

Lewis looked down at the living hand being offered to him, but this time around, he didn’t try to find an excuse or shy away from the promise it entailed. 

When they finally did descend the stairs, they were laughing. It was soft, subtle, the kind of laugh that follows a broken relationship as it starts to mend or reconnect. Somewhat afraid, but it was laughter and it was real. Even as Vivi looked up, skin still shiny and taut if a little less red, they were holding hands and smiling at each other as if nothing had happened in the first place. She felt her heart rise past the ceiling and into the clouds, finding her fears melting with their bouncing voices growing stronger and stronger...

“-and did you watch all my shows while I was gone? That hug was something straight out of an anime.”

“Oh, shut up. It worked, didn’t it?”

“Whatever you say, closet weeb.”

But Lewis stopped dead in his tracks as he saw her, hand away from her face as she pulled herself up as best she could to greet them and nearly forget about the burning reminder that had consumed half of her head. Both their smiles sunk, his eyes growing wide and frantic as it finally, truly hit him. She wanted to disappear, wanted them to continue their happy moment with growing laughter as they gently teased back and forth. All she could do was turn her face away, trying her best to hide the damaged skin and hoping he would hide his own guilt, too.

She hated silence, hated how far away it felt when all she wanted was to run to him. How elated she’d been to hear his voice and know that he was still here, that there was still time, and even if she could hear him crying that meant he was listening to Arty, that he was considering staying. But now that he had seen her, now that he was reminded of what he had done...would he leave again? Would he change his mind now and truly disappear, forever? Part of her didn’t know if she could take it, losing him a third time, knowing he had been so close to her and blowing it simply by being there.

Then, she felt something gentle against her cheek, more a suggestion of a touch than an actual, physical act. It lead her to his eyes, so soft that they might have been made of snow and downy feathers instead of bone. He let his hand trail down her cheek until it came to her neck as she finally looked up at him, his searching her own eyes for an answer that might make sense. She wondered what he would say, or what she could say to change this. 

Instead of speaking, he leaned forward, letting his forehead meet hers as he closed his eyes and the gap between them, shaking. At first, she didn’t really know what to do, but as he moved his hand down to her shoulder she too closed her eyes, feeling her own hand reach up to cup his. 

“I’ve broken too many promises for this to have any merit, Vivi. But I will never let this happen to you ever again.” He lifted the bottom of his skull to rest it on the top of her head, moving naturally, eyes staring intensely forward as he swore himself to her, “You are my entire world, my universe. I promised I’d never leave your side, but that means nothing if I can’t protect you from myself. I’m sorry.”

She leaned forward, nodding against his chest and breathing him in. Smoke, grease, the old cologne he had once used in life clinging to his ethereal skin as a part of who he was now. The softness of his suit, the warmth that radiated off of him as she melted into him little by little. It felt as though years had passed, wandering through mazes in a daze and getting lost in the fog. She had woken up somewhere entirely new with no idea in her mind as to how she would ever make it back. She had been scared, afraid.

With his apology and the pressure of his hand against her back, pulling her closer to him with no intent of ever letting go, she had somehow found her way back home.


	28. Bound By Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team has been searching for what feels like an eternity to no avail. Vivi thinks she may have found their way out of this mess, but the implications may just make this lifeline a little too dangerous to follow.

Two weeks.

Two full weeks they’d been searching endlessly for something, anything. Hundreds of books had been read, thousands of websites scoured, every single resource they had was exhausted to no real avail. All of them were fatigued, sleep deprived, and feeling more and more hopeless by the day. Even Lewis, cooped up in the master bedroom as he had been for the majority of the time they had spent in the mansion, was starting to look more and more lost.

Sure, they had found a couple of rituals that had a teensy bit of potential if you looked past the grisly requirements. A reanimation spell that would apparently pair a ghost back to its original body and make him more or less human again had sounded nice until they realized that Lewis’ family had him cremated, and though the many spells that binded ghosts to the physical realm seemed like they might do the trick, nothing was for certain. Everything that could work had some sort of stipulation, something they needed that they couldn’t-or wouldn’t-do.

That was the problem with necromancy or blood magic: it was almost always morally reprehensible. 

But at the start of week three, the fifteenth day, they found it.

No matter how much time had passed, Lewis still saw his own fault in the scars on Vivi’s face. It hurt to pull himself away from her even moreso than he already had, to spend any less than his entire life with her, and yet he knew he was a danger whenever he was around any of them. So, he locked himself in his room, continuing his own research with nothing but the deadbeats to keep him company while Vivi and Arthur were hard at work across the hall, in the library. He could feel them in his mansion, his home, little twinges of happiness every so often that brought his eyes to smile every time they shifted or spoke, but he knew that he needed to protect them more than anything.

Keeping his distance was the best he could do. 

But that day, the fifteenth night of searching and searching, he felt Vivi froze against the couch with a book in her hands as though the building and furniture were a part of him. He felt her pounding feet against the floor before he heard it, picked up the pulsing excitement rising from her chest as she bolted towards him through the tether that held them together. From his spot in his armchair, he stared at the door in anticipation of her arrival, knowing that at any moment she’d burst through the door in a flustered panic.

Just as he had predicted, his door swung open and flew against the wall behind it, jumping out of the way of the woman he loved as she searched around for him frantically for a moment before finding his eyes. He dropped his hand and the book he had been flipping through to his knees as she hurried over to him, peering curiously at the tome she held in hers. He couldn’t see it past her fingers, but it looked vaguely familiar.

Her eyes were brimming, somewhere between intense hope and speculation. He could see her shivering from anticipation even across the room as though she were barely containing her excitement, and yet her brows were still knit with tension and a little bit of distrust towards what was actually possible and what was reasonable. There was doubt, but mostly there was turmoil poorly hidden in her jumpy eyes that always betrayed everything. 

“Hey blue, what’s up-” 

She crossed the distance between them hurriedly, thrusting the book out to him impatiently. Mystery followed in on her heels, standing protectively behind her as she pulled her hands back and started to tap her thumbs together somewhat nervously. She wasn’t meeting his eyes.

“I think I found our only ticket out of this mess, Lulu.”

He glanced down, thumbing to the dog-eared page cautiously. Usually, he might have chided Vivi for treating his abuela’s books with anything other than the utmost care, but he knew she was more than a little flustered by whatever she had found in these pages. A little thoughtlessness was understandable, especially if she had truly found something that might work…

But then again, his grandma wasn’t exactly ‘ghost-friendly’. Of course it was possible that he may have missed or forgotten something, but the few rituals she had indulged were all very anti-supernatural. This had been the only notebook she had kept that documented what she had dubbed ‘black magic’, and all he could recall were a few high-level exorcisms and an experimental and very shifty werewolf reversal ritual.

Vivi was pacing, her fingers dancing across her elbows as she worked her way back and forth across his room, “I know, I know, when I found this old thing under one of the seats of the van I thought it would be nothing, too. But just trus me, Lulu.”

He was still skeptical, unsure as to whether or not he really wanted to put any hope in this when it was likely something that would end in heartbreak. Looking up, he found her eyes locked onto him, waiting in the same state of uncertainty as he hesitated. Her burn marks were healing, the hair that had been charred away growing back and the skin no longer pink, but whatever progress she had been making was made null by the bags under her eyes and the growing paleness of her cheeks. She had spent too much time hung up on this hopeless chase, but after quite a few arguments he knew she wasn’t giving up long enough to let herself actually rest, or eat, or do anything other than search.

One way or another, he found himself always hurting her.

“Blueberry…”

“No, just give it a chance! It doesn’t specify a specific kind, we could-”

“You know how I feel about blood magic.”

He could feel her look away as he closed his eyes. Even if he had known how this would end, it still felt like something had been stolen from him, and he knew she felt the same way too as he turned her away for a third time. It hurt, but he wasn’t letting her get caught up in something so dangerous, not for his sake.

“But we can play with it a little, Lew! Dr.Price owes us a favor still, and I’m sure she knows the blood banks around here pretty well. And you know so many protection sigils, we wouldn’t just run into this, we would prepare, and...and…”

Lewis closed the book gently and set it on the table next to his armchair, looking at her sternly, “You know what my problem is, V. If it were just me, that would be one thing, but this is vague to say the least. A template? Who would that be? And what would that entail?”

“I’ve been reading up on it though, Lewis! Your grandma, she knew someone who tried it out and it worked fine! The template is so that you can be human again, Lewis. You’ll be flesh, and blood, and breath...the spell just needs human DNA. It wouldn’t hurt us.”

He stood up, shoulders sunken as he lifted a hand to his jawbone with the other resting on his hip. She reached out to wrap a hand around his back, still looking up at him with those pleading eyes.

“Please, babe. Just think about it, give it a little time...I’ll even get eight hours in tonight, I promise.”

Sorely, he reached down to hug her with a huge, hollow sigh. He felt empty, but her warmth and hope radiated off of her like a little candle. Sometimes, she could be such a child. Other times, she was the only thing holding him together. He couldn’t tell what part she was playing right now.

“Alright. I’ll think about it. But I want to see what my abuela wrote on it, and do a little research of my own first. We’re treating this like a bomb until we know for certain it’s safe, ‘kay?”

She squirmed a little bit, and he looked down to see her big toothy grin, just like old times. Just like he loved. He mimicked her with his eyes and felt a little less empty. With a start, he leaned down to sweep her legs out from underneath her, lifting her up with ease as she filled his room with laughter and melted his heart for the millionth time.

“Now come on, into bed, chop-chop little missy.”

“But Lew!” She protested without making a move against him. It was as though she were made of feathers in his arms, so light. As he swung her around and her laughter died away, they found each others’ eyes and comfortable silence. 

The blanket on his bed pulled back as the two approached, and as gently and slowly as he possibly could he set her down. As she pulled the blanket up to her chin and Mystery jumped up to curl up at her feet, she held onto Lewis’ hand with no intention of letting go. She was studying him so closely, eyes searching his with that sure smile on her lips again as he kneeled beside her with his skull resting on their intertwined hands. Her bright eyes were just gushing, he could feel himself falling in love with her all over again.

“What are you humming, Lulu?”

It took him a moment to realize what she was referring to, he hadn’t even realized that he had been making any noise. As he caught himself, she shook her head a little, her eyes knitting in worry.

“No, don’t stop! Please, I just wanted to know what it was…”

He had to start the lullaby over again to put a name to it, humming a couple notes before it came back to him with a couple bittersweet memories. She was immersed in his voice, listening intently as he whispered to himself.

“Oh, it was something my mom sang to me and I sang to the little ones, I don’t even know it’s name anymore. It’s been...it’s been so long since I’ve been able to…”

“Can you keep singing, until I’ve gone to sleep? I want to hear your voice, Lulu.”

His eyes grew wide for a split moment before they grew warm again. She fought back a yawn, but he could feel only too well just how tired she was from across their tether. Who knew how long she’d last, eyes growing droopy and movements slowing. Her grip on him tightened a touch, but it started to loosen as he nodded gently.

“Of course.”

He didn’t hum this time, he sang. And even if his voice wasn’t what it used to be in this state, and even if he had grown shy all over again, she fell asleep slowly to him gently lulling her away. Even after she was long gone, he sang well into the night.

 

 

Vivi always imagined that the world kept track of the wrong done within it. She knew it was irrational at best, childish, but there was something comforting about believing that the universe was inherently just. Karma and all the ironic chances that lead to it, it was all based around some set of morals held on a cosmic level.

But if that were true, why wasn’t the universe stopping them now?

She had to admit, it felt wrong to her. Even as she finished drawing the symbol on the concrete outside of the mansion, her hands were shaking, and it wasn’t at all because of the cold. There was a breeze, sure, but it wasn’t anything compared to how she felt on the inside. 

It was just her and her three boys, standing in the cold with only the stars to bear witness and pass judgment. And for some reason, they had deemed this as a lesson the Mystery Skulls needed to learn.

“Vivi, are you sure you want to go through with this?”

Arthur was sitting on the steps, closer to the mansion than anyone else with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and Mystery sitting on his feet at full attention. If he hadn’t been so tired, Vivi imagined he would be a lot more talkative and against the supposed necromancy they were about to partake in, but the poor guy had been just as eager to find an answer to this mess as the rest of them. She stood up with her eyes averted, looking at her handiwork in chalk on the ground beneath her feet.

“I’m certain.” She lied.

Even if she’d memorized every step, every piece of the ritual before them, she picked up the book of instructions alongside the intricate dagger from her backpack to glance over it one more time, making sure she wasn’t missing anything. The protective sigils had been worked in by both Lewis and his grandmother many decades ago, the Latin had been memorized, the blood had been prepped...still there were so many things that could go wrong, so many things that could hurt the ones she loved.

And yet this was the only way to save them both.

“I think...I think we’re ready. Lewis? Arthur?”

The ghost had already stepped into the center of the symbol she had drawn, lost in some thought or another. He had been like that a lot in the last week leading up to this night, thinking and brooding. 

She hoped she’d get her Lewis back before the night was over.

Arthur’s hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality, squeezing lightly in a show of support as he took the book from her hand. When she looked up at him, it felt like she was seeing him for the first time. Tender, sympathetic eyes flooding with compassion and calm and plain sleepiness. How could he be so calm through all of this when she felt like she was stepping on snakes? 

He lead her towards her own place in the circle opposite Lewis, waiting for the two to clasp their right hands together. Slowly, she split her palm with the dagger, watching as a trail of bright red jumped up to stain the silver in shadows before she hid it in the dark black of Lewis’ hand. With a thick white thread, shining like silk in the light of the full moon unmarred by cloud or smoke, he tied them together firmly and carefully. With every loop around their fingers, she could feel her pulse race and her shivering worsen.

But then, she looked back at her dog standing vigil just outside the circle, her best friend calmly whispering encouragement to her through foggy breath, the love of her life staring at the string connecting them in this moment, and she felt floodwater. 

She was an ocean, not a cowering stream. She was strong, she was immense, she was pure power, and the waves don’t fear the wrath of the shore, the sea does not divert for the pebbles that get in their way. No, the bluffs and ships and rocks on the beach feared and revered her, not the other way around. Just like with everything else the world threw at her, she would make it through. And those that she loved, those that she sheltered, they would be alright. 

As she had repeated to herself a thousand times, they would be okay.

“Alright, both of you. If anything happens, if something hurts or feels wrong, we’re stopping this. Okay, got that?” Arthur had tied the knot, resting one hand on top of Lewis’ and Vivi’s, “I got salted holy water, and more sage than should be legal. Even if you just feel afraid, or unsettled, or-”

“We’ll be okay, Arty. I promise.” Vivi smiled up at him, steadying herself as he stood with mouth still open and breath held. With a little bit of a sideways smirk, he released the air in his lungs and brushed a lock of hair out of her face with the gentle kiss of a finger. She even felt herself meaning that smile, feeling that hope again.

“You know I’m always gonna worry ‘bout you, Bubbles.”

Slowly, he backed away and out of the circle, refusing to let the two leave his line of sight until he had found his way to the matchbook and bowl of blood, as though they would disappear if he looked away for more than a second. When he found his way back to them, he steadied his hand enough to draw the swirling, sweeping symbols across her face in herb-infused type A. The smell made her nauseous, metal and decay and bad memories, but she calmed her stomach with a breath and accepted the bowl in her left hand alongside Lewis as Arthur began lighting the candles, set in the cardinal directions at the edge of the circle.

“Listen to him, V. If anything starts feeling wrong…” Lewis spoke under his breath, leaning forward just slightly. She could feel a little bit of the dry warmth from his hair on her face, warming her cheeks and calming her even further. Eyes closed, she reveled in the warmth.

“You know me and my feelings, Lewberry. And right now, my feelings are telling me that this is all gonna end up just fine, okay?” She met his eyes, hoping he could feel the love she was drowning in as well, “Trust me, and trust my gut. Trust your abuela.”

“Alright, Viv! Whenever you’re ready!” Arthur shouted from the steps, many paces away. In all honesty, she felt like she’d never be ready.

Still, she began pouring the blood slowly over the thread, knowing hesitation wouldn’t get them anywhere with something like this. As the white disappeared to the slow stream of unclotted liquid, she heard her voice rise up without really feeling herself speaking. It felt like everything fell to hush as she began, the night growing still as she recited the Latin she had spent so many hours practicing.

“ _Dare animam carni et sanguini,_ ”

The wind was picking up now, but the candle she could see behind Lewis was still lit. Her hair whipped back and forth in front of her face, and she could feel herself growing lighter and lighter with every word she spoke. 

“ _ut daret spiritum imagini bestiæ,_ ”

Everything around her seemed to be tinged pink now, as though she were looking through stained glass eyes. Lewis looked down and muttered something in surprise, but she couldn’t seem to move. It felt like she was no longer on solid ground, but that was to be expected from something like this. And her head…

“ _et quod calor frigus, inter viventes vivent in dormientibus._ ”

God, her head was pounding. She could hardly see through the pinkness surrounding her now, but she was aware of the fire on top of Lewis’ head being blown out by the wind as he grew limp to the spell surrounding them. Deep down, she felt a tinge of worry for her love, but as she began to repeat the passage she felt herself give way to the spell, body and soul.

He was flickering, she knew that, but she felt so cold. Cold, and numb, and lost. Was she still speaking? Was she still even awake? 

But then she heard a voice calling out to her, a thread to guide her back. With every rhythmic shout she could feel something else, something new coming back into her range of sense. The sting of her hair whipping against her face, the pain of the cut on her palm, the cold flow of blood as it rolled over her and Lewis’ hands...slowly, bit by bit, she came to. She was still here, she was okay, and so was...so was…

As her sight came back, she couldn’t believe her eyes in the slightest. Her heart was stuck between falling and flying, her voice shivering as she continued reciting her Latin as best she could as tears jumped to her eyes. 

It was...Lewis. Alive, flesh and blood Lewis, eyes glowing a blank pink towards the stars as he seemed to scream a silent howl to the moon. 

And then it was all over, and their feet were back on the ground, but he wasn’t standing.

Arthur was calling out her name, but she was unable to hear him in that moment. Lewis, her Lulu, he was falling. With only a second to think, she ran to break his fall, hitting the ground with him in her arms as the concrete beneath them began crumbling to dust underneath her as though to get out of the way.

She knew she was screaming, crying. She could feel the tears racing each other down her cheeks, the rawness of her throat cursing the world and whatever justice it thought it had brought her. Nothing made sense, nothing was clear to her anymore save for the absence of breath on his chest, or the coldness of the skin on his cheek as she stroked his face, searching for a sign of life. No, it couldn’t be, it couldn’t end like this... 

Even as Arthur tried to tear her and Lewis away from the crumbling structures around them, even as the sound of the world falling apart around her crept back into her ears, she was frozen. Not even the large beast crashing into her, pushing her, begging her with red eyes and lashing tails to get out of the way brought her back to reality.

Because what would reality be if she had killed her Lewis, her Lulu.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know Latin so I just used a translator online, sorry if I totally butchered it guys. However, the translation in English for the ritual is, roughly, "to give his life to flesh and blood, to give life unto the image of the beast, and that the heat and cold between all creatures will live in one who sleeps."
> 
> My original script was much less eloquent, but I think it gained rather than lost something in translation :-)


	29. Inversion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis is as good as gone, but Vivi isn't going to give up. She's already lost him once and she isn't ready to lose him a second time, but the only clue she has to work with isn't much. It's easy to lose heart when the only lead you have takes you nowhere.  
> But Vivi might just have a circus trick up her sleeve that might get them out of this mess if Arthur is willing to do the unimaginable.

When Vivi finally came back to reality, the mansion had crumbled to nothing but dust behind her.

It was as if it had never existed in the first place, as though she had dreamt everything and was only now waking from that long slumber, as if she were still in that hospital room without the slightest idea as to who she was. The stone steps had disappeared into the soil, the windows and walls dissipated into the air, the deadbeats no more than a memory in a mind that had grown fickle and prone to lying. All that was left was a cave, the thorns, the dirt, and the smell of metal. 

She felt dizzy, but not in a way she had ever felt it before. It was as if her entire essence had settled on the top of her skin, as though she were no longer inside herself but floating just above. Nothing lined up the way it was supposed to, her soul was trying to escape but found itself stuck on the goosebumps covering her cold arms. Every time she tried to think or make sense of what was happening to her and the world around her, she found it lost in the bright light overcoming her head, spreading with pins and needles down her arms and to her fingers. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t find the willpower to move no matter how she coaxed the useless legs folded beneath her.

All she could understand, the only thing she could see, was the uneven flashes of Lewis’ dead body cradled in her arms.

“Up we go…”

She felt gentle hands reach underneath her armpits, lifting her up from behind and swinging her limp arms around their shoulders as someone helped her to stand. She didn’t resist-she hadn’t the energy to. Any autonomy she had once had was gone now, and the will of iron she had only moments before been utilising...gone. Somehow, this voice without a name was untouched in her mind. Maybe, if she had been able to listen or hear past the white noise invading her being, she would have realized just how broken they were inside as well.

But she wasn’t equipped to hear right now, and so she stared straight ahead as they dragged her limp body from the side of the road and towards the van parked beside it, doors open and inviting and maybe just a little familiar to her. She was even able to lift her legs a little as the force carrying her struggled to push her into the back, feeling control slowly come back to her extremities as the fog cleared just a little bit. They left her on the floor, wrapping her in a downy comforter before kneeling in front of her and taking her hand in their metal one.

It was the stinging from her hand as he wiped it clean that finally brought her back, all at once. The gentle trickle of hydrogen peroxide down her open palm and arms, colder than the frost forming outside as it foamed and fizzled and mixed with the dry blood caked onto her skin. When she slowly moved her head to look down at the cut on her palm, he covered it with gauze and began gently cleaning the dirt and grime off of her with a wet towel. He worked in silence, never saying a word.

She could see out of the corner of her eye something on the couch, covered with a blanket.

“Arthur...what happened.”

He was cleaning her face, the rag pausing against her cheek after rubbing the burn marks on the side of her face until they felt raw despite his caution. The once white towel he pulled away was stained brown and red. He was frozen just as she had been now, losing the weird sense of focus he had gained while taking care of her in an instant, with only three words. The towel lowered, but his eyes didn’t.

And then, he stood up. He crossed over to the blanket on the couch and picked up the book lying at its feet, open and torn, and he brought it over to her as though he were in some kind of trance. No speaking, no expression, only movement.

The page it was on was something she had never seen before, written in Spanish.

 

_Lewis_

_If you are reading this, I have failed in teaching you. I added extra protection sigils to this ritual, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. The dead have had their time, grandson, and that time is up. Unbound spirits are meant to move on, such is the way of death and life._

_Whatever demon you were trying to bring to the physical realm now sleeps, and will continue to sleep unless proven alive. There is only one thing all living creatures feel that the dead do not. The body you created for them shall be a prison. Their essence will be bound to this flesh without breath until I am proven wrong. It would be wise of you to say your goodbyes and forget._

_You must understand, I do this for your own protection and growth. Please forgive me._

_Isabella_

 

She read it a thousand times over in the hopes that her self-taught translation was off, but no matter how she paired the words or stared at the letters she couldn’t make any new, more hopeful message appear. There must have been something she was missing, something she wasn’t seeing…

“I don’t know what happened, Viv. You guys started floating, your eyes turned pink and then suddenly...Lewis started changing, started turning human again. It started at his feet and just went up, and then it reached his face, and…” he placed a hand on the page, obscuring the letters underneath his fingers, “and then the instructions, they burned away. You two were falling, and I think something possessed Mystery, and the mansion was crumbling…”

Her grip on the book tightened as his words trailed off, holding onto the charred pages as though that might do anything more than whiten her knuckles. This was her fault, she should have listened to him and looked for a different way to...even if they had simply waited until he had lost control, she would’ve gotten more time with him. She could’ve told him she loved him a thousand more times. She finally forced the courage to look over at him, lying on the couch and covered.

Her body held onto the fake courage for dear life.

“It was his grandmother, she...she set the ritual up so that he wouldn’t wake up. So that she could protect him, so that he would be safe, and…” she was so caught up in herself, the book fell from her hands without notice on her part. Arthur could feel her shaking beneath him, “the only living emotion...she said, he’ll wake up if we can prove he’s alive! If we prove her wrong!”

“Vivi, just take a moment, please. We need to gather our thoughts before we go rushing back into this. That’s what got us into this mess, we need to-”

“No, it’s okay. This is all okay, it’s just...a riddle! I love riddles, right? Solving mysteries? That’s all this is, another mystery I have to solve.” Vivi stood up, her legs still wobbly but her head in charge as she forced herself forward to pause before Lewis’ still body, hand reaching for his before freezing and hovering merely inches away. There was no warmth, even though there should have been at this distance, “This is all just a...a game. I mean, how many feelings are there, really? We can just go through them, one by one, until he wakes up.”

She collapsed beside her dead boyfriend’s body, waiting for Arthur to resist or voice his thoughts in any way. And yet, he was quiet, still where he sat. She finally closed the gap between her and Lewis’ hand, biting her lip when she felt just how cold he was against her fingers. How long did they have until he started to decay, truly? 

Gently, she pulled back the blanket covering his face to reveal the pale, lifeless body underneath. Cheeks with no color, eyes closed and lips turning the worst shade of blue. Even though she wanted nothing more than to cover him back up again, she kept her eyes steady as she leaned forward and placed a kiss on his forehead, lingering in the hopes that he might stir like in all the fairytales she had read or watched. Of course he didn’t.

“Alright, Lulu, you’re going to have to work with me here. We’re not gonna give up on you, not ever. But you gotta give me a sign every now and then, ‘kay? Just let me know you’re still in there from time to time. I’ll be listening, I promise.”

She squeezed his hand one more time, feeling how weak she had grown and wishing she could hold the both of them together by herself. If she fell apart now, how much time would they lose? It wasn’t an option if she wanted him to survive this. No matter what, she couldn’t afford to stop, even for a second. His life was on the line, and she wasn’t ready to let him go.

Behind her, Arthur shifted. 

 

 

She had finally fallen asleep, if only for a few minutes.

Arthur knew it was hypocritical of him, but he really worried about her and the amount of sleep she was missing these days. Between the weeks they’d spent searching for a solution to the first problem and the days they had thrown away trying to bring Lewis back, they were both looking worse for wear with menacing bags forming under their eyes and yawns penetrating any conversation they actually had with each other. Fear and loss could do that to a person, he guessed. As he rested the comforter around her shoulders, head rested on the couch only inches away from Lewis’ face and hands still stuck to her laptop’s keyboard, he prayed that she wouldn’t wake up for a couple hours at least.

He was a different story, though. She wasn’t accustomed to this sort of research, and he hoped she never would be taking into consideration how much it could take out of a person, but he had some experience swimming in the waters of deprivation that he was willing to pull out temporarily if it meant saving their friend. Sure, he might feel a little sluggish, but a fifth energy drink would fix that right up in no time.

The only living emotion, that’s what they’d been searching for. Vivi had tried a million things to try and wake Lewis up, but of course nothing seemed to be working, not in the slightest. She had kissed him more times than either could count, whispered words of love, tried to provoke him with stinging words that brought tears to her eyes, even played sound clips of his parents, his siblings, laughing and talking to him from home videos long past...but he never even budged. Love, anger, sadness, nostalgia...they seemed to mean nothing anymore, not in this case anyway. 

As he popped the top of the energy drink can, he felt Mystery’s eyes on him from across the van, curled up next to Vivi. With every day that passed, Arthur could feel his hope draining even more as they threw away another false lead. He had been preparing himself for this sort of outcome from the day him and Lewis promised to try and tolerate each other back in her hospital room, but that didn’t make it hurt any less now that it was upon them. He wished he could give some of the overflowing emotion back to the ghost, the turmoil and conflict and overall fear that he was feeling now. It bottled up inside of him, ready to burst. He just hoped nobody pulled his tab, this can had been shaken up too badly.

He looked over the screen of his laptop, waiting for the caffeine to hit him. It was just light to him right now, bright and jarring as he felt the promise of a headache beginning to form at the front of his skull. Honestly, he didn’t even know what he was supposed to be looking for anymore. There had been thousands of articles and essays he had read on theories of what made humans different from animals, arguments pushing the ideas of laughter and thought and love...but that wasn’t the answer they were looking for. The answer was what made them alive, what aside from physical body divided the dead from the breathing. It was obscure, philosophical, something you couldn't exactly test out before...

No one had seemed to consider that question yet. Maybe Arthur would need to write a thesis paper on it once this was all said and done.

He looked over at Vivi again, her mouth moving just barely as she murmured in her sleep, fingers twitching as though she were typing something in a far off dream. Her whispering brought him back down to Earth again, just a little as he tried to decipher what it was that she was saying. Lately, they hadn’t talked too much-she was much too absorbed in her work for idle chatter, anyway-and he really missed her. So much of him wanted to ask her what to do, he was so lost right now...but he couldn’t. She had her own problems, her own fears and priorities. She couldn’t baby him, not now. He’d just have to suck it up and take some initiative in saving _their_ teammate, his only other best friend, his brother. 

So he turned away and began searching again, tapping away at his laptop as if it were the only thing he had anymore. Sometimes, he felt that were true.

But no matter how much he urged himself to look away, he kept finding his eyes back on her, sleeping. It was like some sort of gravitational pull, he couldn’t focus, couldn’t think, it felt like something were terribly wrong...but then he’d look at her, brow screwed up as though she were thinking deeply rather than in sleep. Mystery was gently licking her hand, staring up at Arthur still with those eerily knowing eyes. Damn, that dog still scared the hell out of him, especially after what he had turned into the night of the bloodletting…

Against all better judgment, Arthur set aside his laptop and stood up again with his feet set back on Vivi. He told himself, over and over, that he should just let her sleep it off. It might be a nightmare, but sleep wracked with horror was often better than no sleep at all, especially when she was still healing and taking such poor care of herself. She needed this, just a little bit of time to recuperate so that she could get back at it with even more vigor than before! But something about the way she was moaning now, how her hands were shaking and her voice was raising and the little bit of eye he could see, the crack in her eyelids, were they...were they glowing?

He placed a hand on her shoulder and she burst awake, breathing heavy and nearly crashing right into him as she threw everything aside in a panic, her laptop and blankets all falling to the ground in a flurry of hands and hyperventilation. It took all of Arthur’s strength to keep a grip on her.

“Hey, watch it Smurf. You’re fine now, we’re just in the van, nothing to-”

She smacked his hand away, eyes wide and still stuck in the dream as she continued to whisper to herself and push further and further away from him. Her eyes, they were still glowing just a little bit, that bright pink that reminded him of when she nearly lost herself to the dark magic. It felt like he’d been stabbed, seeing her push him away like this. But he told himself it was all in the nightmare. 

She was noticeably calming down, eyes flitting about the van as though she were just now seeing it and body relaxing more and more. Arthur leaned back, sitting on his feet as she lowered her defenses and straightened up just the slightest.

“See? It was all just a bad dream, Blue. Just breathe. We’re fine.”

Her hand lifted to cover her mouth as she continued to mutter, shaking her head from side to side as her jumpy eyes found a spot on the floor to stare at, transfixed. Every so often, he could catch bits and pieces of what she was saying-‘cave’ and ‘fear’ and something that sounded like legacy, harmony, pharmacy. He tried to meet her eyes, but she was evasive. His voice came back crackling and telltale.

“Viv, it was a dream. Only a dream. Come back to me now, you’re scaring me a little-”

“Not a dream.”

It was hardly above that whisper, but somehow it was as clear as day to him. He watched her for anymore reaction, a hint at what she meant. All he got was that continued staring at the floor, the dancing of her fingertips against each other as she pulled her palm away from her lips so that he might see how her teeth chattered. He shivered.

“What do you mean, ‘not a dream’? You were sleeping.”

She shook her head again, coming back piece by piece as she reached for her notepad underneath the blankets, “I wasn’t sleeping, I was...it was a…” she was lost for words, her hand writing furiously on the pad of paper in pink sharpie, “intuition. My intuition, the dhampir, she said…”

“What, a prophecy? This isn’t the Twilight Saga, Vivi. That lady was a nutjob, you know that, you can’t trust what a monster like that is going to say. It was all just a nightmare, that’s it. Nothing more.”

Even as he spoke, he knew she wasn’t really listening anymore. The page was already nearly full with a recounting of what she had seen, the letters sloppy and shaky from the fear and excitement that was filling her now. Whatever she had seen, she had grabbed onto it and wasn’t letting go for dear life. 

Arthur fell against the couch, feeling ten times more exhausted than he had been just ten minutes ago. He lifted a hand to run through his hair, greasy and all over the place from days gone untreated. His arms felt so stiff, so tired, and even the fingers in his robotic arm were acting up as his nerves and thoughts no longer lined up properly. He was astounded, filled with electricity but numb. She was still writing, endlessly.

Even if it sounded unbelievable, how many papers had he read that spoke of dreams as a doorway into the subconscious mind? Maybe there was some merit, something in Vivi’s tampered memory that lead them back to a lead…

He swallowed and cleared his throat, feeling it come out dry as he finally spoke up again.

“Okay, what was the...the dream about, then? What did you see that scared you so much?”

Her hand froze against the paper and she bit her lip, her breathing quickening again as she scanned the page in front of her for an answer. “Well…” she began, quiet and unsure and maybe just a little bit desperate, “it’s...it was a nightmare I’ve been having for years now. Something that started back when we first met Lewis.”

Unfortunately, Arthur remembered all too well how that had been. She never remembered what it was when she woke up, but she’d wake up in a panic and go straight to Lewis with whatever her problems were. It was the beginning of their falling apart the first time, the start of Arthur waking up by himself, a curse that he thought was a thousand years behind him now.

“The ones you never remembered when you woke up?”

“No...well, yes, I guess. I mean, I remembered bits and pieces of them, I guess. But nothing substantial, nothing that really made sense...until now, at least.” She set the notepad down, covering the front as though to shield it from his eyes. It only made him even more on edge.

“Until now?”

“Now, it makes too much sense.”

He sighed, feeling that he wasn’t going to be getting much out of her about what had actually happened, “Care to elaborate? I’m kinda working on a lot of shadows right now. Not to mention you’re terribly sleep, food, and drink deprived right now. Are you sure you don’t just need some more sleep, Viv?”

“No!” she shouted back, voice raised and body contracting upon itself once more. She looked embarrassed for a split second before she relaxed again, looking up at her companion with pleading eyes, “Just...just trust me here, Arthur. I think I know what we need to do, I think I know how I can save him this time around...but I can’t do it without you beside me. I just can’t.”

Really, he shouldn’t have paused as long as he did, and usually he wouldn’t have. In the end, he knew it always came down to the same result, and that she was always right, and that no matter how roundabout and scary it might seem at first she really knew what was best for the team. But he was still scared. She had seen something in that dream that had scared _her_ , something that had made her push him away. Every bit and piece of him said that wasn’t something he wanted to see, too.

“What would we be doing, Vivi. You can’t just expect me to-”

“The cave. We’d be going back into the cave.”

He inhaled. Then he held it, long enough to feel his head start swimming. And then he exhaled. That was really all he could do to control his nerves as he felt every ounce of his body begin to catch fire. He was dissociating, he remembered that word from a therapy session back at the hospital, the world no longer felt real and he was trying to escape...but he couldn’t, he just couldn’t. Everything was going fuzzy, he could feel himself fold into himself, he was losing his breath…

And then, she was there. Her arm was wrapped around him, the skin of her arm was pressed against his, and he could focus just a little. On the warmth of her body against his, on the gentle brushing of her hair against his cheek. She was giving him a means to come back, even if part of him didn’t want to.

“I know, Arthur, I don’t ever want to see you back in there, and I don’t want to see you hurting like this, but...there’s a reason this is coming back to me now, this vision. There’s something in that cave that will wake Lewis up, something that both of us need to see.” She looked up at him, resting her chin on his shoulder and squeezing him slightly, “I’m so, so sorry, Arty. You know I wouldn’t ask this if I didn’t have any other way, but...we’re at a standstill here, we have nowhere else to turn.”

He was still so tense, he could feel the muscles in his neck straining against him. His pulse was running at a thousand beats per second, he was sure of that as he heard it bulleting away in his ears. He couldn’t do it, not again, not after he had worked so hard to get over it. And the demon, what if it was still in there? What if he lost himself again, how could he protect himself and Vivi from a threat like that? He only had so many arms he could lose, and what if that monster wasn’t there anymore to rip it away from him…

“Just...take your time, Arty. Think about it a little, I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this. This is your choice. I won’t think any less of you if you can’t do it, I understand if-”

“I’ll do it.”

He looked down, finally meeting her eyes. They were wide, and blue, and full of what promised to soon be tears. She didn’t wear worry well, he thought, she was so much more beautiful with hope on her face. And he owed this much to Lewis, after killing him and making this a possibility in the first place. He’d do it for the both of them.

“...what? You...are you sure?”

“I am. One hundred percent.” He swiped at his cheek, only just realizing as the tears began to tickle his face that they were falling now, “Let’s bring Lewis back. For good this time."


	30. Forgetting Our Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vivi knows what's going to happen in the cave tonight. She doesn't know what the end result will be, or if it will lead to their deaths, or if it will do anything whatsoever aside from hurt her...but she knows that they can't stay static anymore. There is one true living emotion, and she's going to find out what that is.

No matter how shot her memory was, Vivi knew she wasn’t going to forget tonight.

The scene was set up like a movie, the waxing moon casting more shadows than light through the thorny branches surrounding the two as they stood outside the cave, distorting leaves and stems into jagged fingers grabbing at them in an attempt to hold them back. Clouds rolled over the stars, betraying only darkness when they looked up to search for reassurance. The wind screamed at them through rocks and tree limbs, biting and cold as it swept through her winter jacket and his puffed up vest. It was all too much, all too eerie a sight.

And the cave, the cave was something else entirely in her eyes now. Yes, it still looked the same, rising from the dirt like a curse and staring at them through huge green eyes, gaping mist-filled mouth, depths that promised no return. But it was different this time. It was everything she had come to hate, the beginning of so many of the terrible things that had haunted her little family, a reminder of ill will and jealousy and misunderstanding…

Yet, now, it was the only foreseeable end.

She was holding Arthur’s hand, gripping him tightly as though proximity would somehow save them, even if deep down she knew that it was quite the opposite. Her bravery, her courage, she could feel it drip down through her fingers like mud to the ground. So much of who she was she was putting in danger with this, and somehow knowing that made it worse in a sense. The comfort she had once found in knowing was fading away like the fog around them, and she felt so, so exposed now that she was in the open. More than anything, she wished she was going into this blind. Maybe then the anticipation wouldn’t be killing her so much.

In shunning the future, she found herself looking back. Lewis was in the van only footsteps behind them, body still and as good as gone in anyone else’s eyes, and she thought of the night she had nearly died facing the poltergeist. Not of that night so much as the morning of, and how afraid she had been of losing them both, and how stupidly she acted as a result. Even further, back to sitting under the table wrapped in a blanket by herself when the thunder came, and how she knew that there would always be another strike, and how it terrified her. When Arthur sat with her through a storm for the first time, she gave him a black eye when he surprised her a little. That’s exactly how she felt now, a small child cowering and crying yet so apt to strike out with even the slightest provocation. Her heart found fear and yet her head screamed danger, danger, danger…

A couple bats flew from the mouth of the cave, pushing her back into place. She knew this was ridiculous. It was just a recurring dream, wasn’t it? Many people before her had dealt with the same, nightmares that haunted them every time they slumbered, fears that found form when their eyes closed and their mind was left to run free. If it hadn’t been for the words of that dhampir...she wouldn’t even be considering it anything but a dream, she still shouldn’t be. It was absurd to think that she was having visions, prophecies like some...some...oh, she didn’t know. But at the same time, now that the little worm had shimmied its way into her brain she couldn’t get it out.

Not to mention, why would a dream so long gone come back to haunt her after all this time? Once more, she looked up at Arthur. She hoped beyond everything that he would forgive her after all this.

“You ready Smurfette?”

He had met her eyes, his smile kinda sideways and still terribly tired despite the decent amount of sleep the both of them claimed to have gotten the night before. Between his flashbacks and her fear of reliving the future, she knew that neither of them had been telling the truth.

“...yeah. You?”

Arthur didn’t respond verbally, he merely squeezed her hand until it felt like the circulation to her fingertips had been cut-off. He continued to smile, always smiling, always reassuring her that this was as much his choice as it was hers. She really hoped he meant it.

So she started forward, ignoring the biting of the wind and the screaming of her legs to turn around and never so much as look at this terribly grave again. Carrying two people she loved deeply behind her, she left Lewis and the van and any sense of normalcy or familiarity far away in the past. She figured, if she didn’t pull through with this, that was where they would stay. Into the heart of it all, into green fog and broken paths and bones left dusty with age...somewhere in here, she would find a way to save him.

It made her feel sick just how excited she had been the first time they had all come through, not knowing what waited ahead for her. A new adventure, uncharted territory left shrouded in mystery that she had the ability to record...now, it was as if she were walking through tar. Her feet hardly picked up off the ground as she finally passed the threshold into the belly of the beast, the weight of her entire body and soul pounding down with each footstep she took. It was torture now, something that had once been lightness and excitement. All that she had once observed through a curious lens turned green, sour, putrid. She hated it, hated what it stood for, hated how she felt…

And she could feel how rigid Arthur was growing, especially as they came to the fateful fork in the path that had left them all for the worse. She couldn’t even feel her hand now, it had grown so numb by his frantic grasp. They paused, the wind still howling a haunting tune behind them as the cave dripped, dripped, dripped.

She knew which way they were supposed to turn from here, just how far into the cavern she had to walk and how long she’d have to wait and just what she’d have to do to make her nightmares become a reality, but she had to stop, she had to think one last time...she had to give herself that much. This was the last moment she could truly turn back, she could feel it in her bones. Leave the cave now, the two of them could go back to the van and keep searching even if it was to no avail. Sure, the love of her life may be lost, but what was that if she lost her own life tonight? The life of her best friend and brother? What would it matter to Lewis if one, let alone all both, were destined to fall tonight? She had never seen the ending, never known how it would play out. Sure, she knew the scary bits, but what if the ending was even worse?

What if destiny were something she couldn’t face?

“Vivi, we aren’t splitting up, are we?” Arthur butted in, his voice gentle and shaky and loud as it echoed against the cave walls. He looked so out of place, so bright and tall and worried...it made her jump, remembering that she wasn’t alone. She wished, above all else, that this were a lone journey. At least then her boys would be safe.

“No, we’re going together. Down, to where...where Lewis fell.”

He couldn’t help but look a little bit relieved, she noticed. His eyelids softened, his body shrunk just slightly and his smile widened just a little bit. If only he knew, if only…

“Lead the way, then.”

And she did, eventually. It took place after what felt like another eternity spent convincing her left foot that it should take a step forward, and then her right, and then her left again. It was such a chore with her body working against her. After all those hunts and the years spent facing death head-on, she still wasn’t accustomed to managing her fear.

Arthur stopped when the cave opened up again, facing a room still billowing green mist and stuffed full of stalagmites. Even when she kept going dutifully onwards, he held his ground for the sake of observation.

“This is…”

His voice trailed off and into the darkness, questioning everything and nothing as he scanned back and forth, eyes catching every time on the one spike in the middle as though it were calling out to him. The tip, darker and redder than all the others, even noticeable through the dense cloud that surrounded them all entirely. This was it, where he had died, where he had been stabbed through the heart and...murdered by the demon. It was all too much, Arthur could feel the fuzziness of doubt settling in on the left side of his brain. 

Vivi was in the middle now, lifting her hand to rest it against that very stalagmite and closing her eyes brokenly. Her head tipped forward in an unspoken prayer, pleading the spirit of the one she loved to guide her here if he couldn’t out in the darkness behind her. All she could do now was wait, and bide her time, and bite back the tears that were so close to greeting her cheeks.

When she heard the gentle laughing behind her, she knew it was time.

It didn’t hurt any less, knowing what she was going to see when she turned around. Her best friend, the closest thing to family she had ever had, defiled and in such pain by her hand, her manipulation. He was smiling, fighting but smiling and losing with every bit of laughter that strayed from his mouth. She knew it wasn’t the fog that was turning him green anymore. 

“Oh my, look at what we have to work with now. You know, he may not feel as strongly as he did before, but all this conflict...this delicious conflict…”

He was looking at his hands, opening and closing his fingers as his facial expressions shifted back and forth, a fluidity she was too well acquainted with by now if even only in dreams. In one swift motion, he turned his robotic arm around to inspect the other side, face only smiling as he observed his handiwork.

“I see I left at least a little mark too, huh? More than just the arm, of course. There’s something here, something akin to...guilt, maybe. But it’s still the jealousy. Always the jealousy with this one.” the demon looked thoughtful for a moment before Arthur came back with a flash of determination, won over by the annoyance of the beast inside, “Oh, stop that, you know you’ll lose. I mean, look at this mess you’ve become. Mr. Third-Wheel, Mr. Unnecessary, Mr. Greed. You want it all, don’t you?”

Vivi knew what she was supposed to say as though she were an actress on stage, lines rehearsed a million times until perfection, and yet...it just wasn’t right, the words stuck in her throat as though dammed by the greatness of her inhibitions. She felt the stalagmite against her back, cold and unwelcoming. 

“Don’t try and tell me I’m wrong, you have so much hatred inside you even if you don’t want to face it. Towards the dead one, yes, but also...she’s the one who dragged us into this mess in the first place, isn’t she? The one who pulls you into situations like this, the one who ignores you when you need someone to talk to, all for the sake of a man she’s known for only a fraction of the time she’s known you. Isn’t that reason to feel hatred? Bitterness? I sure think so.”

She inhaled sharply, feeling the words like a stab to her chest. Her mouth opened, trying to find her voice one more time but faltering as she realized just how right they were, how terrible she’d been the last few days. Her heart was growing heavier, heavier, she could hardly croak out the few words she did manage as she had so well remembered them.

“Arthur, how did we end up like this?”

It was as if she could see her words get lost in the fog surrounding her, bumping against the stalagmites and back towards her without ever finding their target. It was hopeless, she knew he would never hear her, and yet with every breath she drew she felt like maybe she could change the ending. Maybe, just maybe, she could switch it around to be much happier. Why did the wings her words travel on have to be dark? She could feel a little bit of hope wrap around her, straightening her back and building in her throat. No, it didn’t have to be so bleak. She could change this, she could live.

Her voice still cracked like kindling, but this time around it grabbed the potential of a spark and burst into courageous flame. This time, she refused to let herself cower.

“Arthur, listen to me!”

He turned towards her now, just as she knew he would. Dark eyes tinged green, the skin on his body taking the same hue in pulsing rhythm as though with his heartbeat. She felt faint with the lingering fear that gripped her chest, her tar feet prepared to fly the moment her mind gave the signal too...but she wasn’t leaving him behind, not in a million years. No matter what shade he turned, he was still her brother, the only person she had chosen each and every time. With every ounce of being inside of her, she knew he would pull through.

He was alive. Lost, but alive and fighting somewhere in there. She knew how it was supposed to go, every step she was supposed to take, and yet she felt herself saying something different as he slowly began to approach. This was it, the moment of truth.

“Please, Arty, I’m sorry. I really am. I get caught up in my excitement, and I...I forget about you, and your feelings, and the kind of person you are and just how different you are from me. But you know I love you, and you know I would never replace you, not even for Lewis. Please, Arthur, you can stop this. I believe in you.”

The demon lost control for more than a few seconds, his hand reaching for his face as Arthur broke through just long enough to mouth something at her. His fingers gripped his cheek wildly, as though he were trying to claw the demon out by outside force alongside internal turmoil now. She strained her ears, stepping forward lightly in an attempt to hear what he was just barely saying above his breath…

“Vivi. Run.”

It all snapped back then, any ground he had made lost in a split second as he closed his eyes and opened them once more to reveal the pure evil hidden deep inside of him. The demon had one, just as he had in her dream. Arthur, no matter his struggles, didn’t have the strength to continue on fighting. As he started towards her again, she could feel her own feet carrying her backwards.

“You don’t understand him, Viv. You never did”

She knew he was using that name to toy with her, the nickname only Arthur had used on her, the one he picked when he was telling her something important or heartfelt or desperate. It made her flinch, the sickening way his lips curled around the letters and turned something she loved into something she despised. Still, she could see Arthur still trying behind the upturned mask of a devil, their expression split evenly, a war of right and left. She sent as much hope and love as she could towards him, in thought and soul and eventually in voice.

“You know that’s bullshit, Arthur! I may not understand everything all the time, but you damn well know I try. And you know that we’ll make it through this. We have another chance, Arty.”

She thought for a moment that she saw a genuine smile leave his lips, if only for a moment, a deviation from the pattern that had been so closely followed up until now. But it was all the same in the end, the demon pushed forward and took advantage of whatever uncertain feelings had come to the forefront of Arthur’s mind. They turned into the howling wind that still whirled around the cave, even so deep inside, a sudden burst of movement and quickness giving speed to their ominous track forward. In seconds they were upon her, inches away from her face, staring her down through diseased eyes that screamed both death and forgiveness.

No matter how unrealistic, she was certain that the sound of her heart beating had filled the room with an eerie, echoing music as they stared each other down, unmoving and unblinking. Despite the absolute terror crowding her senses she gathered up the courage she had stored so that she might move, lifting her chin in defiance so that she might look down upon the demon who had invaded her home. There was no way in hell she was going down without a fight, and just as she felt the Latin she had practiced building in her throat, a strong metal hand cut it off. She was pushed against the stalagmite Lewis had died upon hard, a smile spreading upon her captors face as he began to laugh at her sputtering struggles against him. 

“You betrayed him, Viv. You raised this boy up just so you could watch him fall.” She was clawing at his metal hand, knowing after so many tickle fights and nerve attachments just how strong the prosthetic made him and how hopeless she was. The pressure behind her eyes was building, pushing against her brain and forming a little headache as her lungs screamed for air. It burned so bad, she couldn’t even begin to think now as everything went fuzzy around her…

Just barely, she felt the ground give out beneath her. She didn’t have to look now to know exactly what was happening, the drop below her and the spikes that laid in wait.

“And for that, I will do what the boy doesn’t have the nerve to. We will watch you fall.”

She tried to kick, tried to struggle as their grip tightened around her trachea and she felt her head grow more and more faint, but with every punch she threw or convulsion her body performed to try and protect her she could only feel herself growing more and more weak. Her shoes went flying off, hitting the ground below moments after with a gentle clacking sound that she could barely hear over the pounding of her heart. The cold, it wrapped around her fingers and toes first, creeping steadily up her arms. She knew this was it, that soon she would feel it all release as she gave up and fell unconscious, that she would be wiped from this world for good with no one to save her.

Even as she took her last breaths, she was calling out. Her heart, the remnants of her mind that were still left, reaching for a tether that had been broken only a few nights before. One name, one musical name upon her lips, the last words she was able to utter before her eyes rolled back into her head and her muscles released, one final promise.

“Lewis…”

As she let go, he laughed. Sickeningly bright and so out of place, the demon released anything he had been holding back and he laughed as he shook her limp body like a ragdoll. This, this was so much more satisfying, a death by his own hand rather than a partnership between him and luck. Just as they had before, they released the girl off the side of the cliff as though she were a mere toy to be played with and then discarded. 

And then they waited, and they listened, and they waited even longer, ears peeled for the sickening sound that finalized the deal. 

But she never hit the ground.

 

 

It had been fear that had woken him from slumber.

A shock of a heartbeat, set across a broken and tattered tether that was just barely maintained by an overwhelming sense of love and the dying bits of hope he had held onto in his comatose state. A promise that he would try, that he would listen, that he would wait for that moment to send her a sign. He felt it all rush back to him in the quick and burning inhale of sudden breath in his lungs, in the strength it took to finally stand again on actual feet instead of hover, in the quickened and lively beating of a heart that was in a state of panic. Somehow, he was alive again. Somehow, he had to save her.

Even as he burst from the van in a panic, guard dog hot on his heels and knees only seconds away from buckling, he could feel that fear course through him. Shaking, shivering, the worry and pain that gripped him like a vice. It was almost as if he were the one with the metal around his throat, he could hardly breathe as he forced himself forward with every footfall against the empty dirt beneath him. But his best friend was in there now, suffering, and his girlfriend was dangling between the borders of life and death even as he tried to think. There was nothing he could do but run, run and hope and pray to whatever merciless gods might listen.

He heard a laugh in response, a cackle that twisted his stomach into knots while simultaneously filling him with an utmost sense of rage as he came to an abrupt stop at the crossroad. It was like a freight train to the chest, pushing him back with every rise and fall in their disgusting joy. The demon, the one who had buried him in the ground in the first place, the one thing that had haunted him and the people he cared about since the day he passed. His heart, beating so erratically in his chest, told him to follow the path up to that voice without thought. Oh, the rage spoke to him in a way words never could, filling him with a sudden storm of vigor and determination...he wasn’t far now, he could have the demon in his own hands if he took the path to the left, he could enact true revenge on the one who had stolen everything from him and the ones he loved…

But for the first time since his death, he had the ability to turn away from the rage filling his heart and clogging his arteries with vengeance and justice. This time around, he pushed away the beating muscle in his chest to listen to the pounding of his head instead, so that he might feel something else for a change. 

And he did. She was there, only faintly. Battered, quiet, and fading, but she was there and by god, she was losing altitude at too quick a rate.

Following behind Mystery, he tore through the cave down to the right. Before he even broke into the main cavern he could see that speck of blue falling from the ceiling, could hear the blood rushing through his ears as they tried to find her heartbeat through the misted air. He hoped beyond hope that he wasn’t too late, that he could still save them both, that there was a way out of this mess that they all could walk away from. No matter how he looked at it, she was falling too fast. There was no way he could make it underneath her in time, and even if he did, he could tell by her sheer velocity that the impact would break them both in this new body. It wasn’t possible, he was losing hope, losing sight and losing her.

Unless…

Oh, it was a long shot. He felt just as human as he ever had, like flesh and blood and bone all together, so fragile yet dense. However...maybe, just maybe, there was something more to this. Even if he felt human, maybe there was a part of him that was still dead for lack of a better word. And if that were true, who was to say what he could and couldn’t do?

He buckled down, digging his feet harder into the ground with each and every stepl. With every bit of muscle in his newborn legs he pushed, with every twist of his hips he forced himself forward as the world opened up around him in shades of green fog and black earth. She was so close now, it was now or never, he’d either find that extra push or watch her break against the stone beneath them like an egg on the kitchen floor.

One more step, pushing against the ground with all of his might, feeling the power build in his thighs and release as he leapt forward.

One more breath, holding the fullness in his lungs as he finally lifted his face upwards to look at her, twisting in midair like some sick ballet.

One more prayer, knowing it was lost down here where the sun never touched and the stars couldn’t watch, but damn it if he wasn’t going to try.

He could feel the impact of his body against hers, wrapping her in his arms, enveloping every bit and piece of her skin as best he could and taking the moment with a little bit of a smile to finally touch his lips. Even if they both died here tonight, he would be able to rest in true peace knowing that he had been able to hold her once more, curled up as they were, one resting and the other hoping as he was. He closed his eyes, released the breath he had been holding…

...and he didn’t fall.

The two of them hovered mere inches from the ground, wrapped up in each other as they were. That’s when he could feel it, her shallow breaths against his as he let his feet touch down gently, one after the other. He held her like a child, letting his face fall into the crook of her neck and feeling the air escape from her lungs and listening to the pulse that ran from her heart to her head, weak but growing stronger with that unforgiving determination he loved her so much for. Every bit of him shook, terrified and screaming at him in a language he couldn’t understand. It didn’t matter anyway, she was alive, no matter the new bruises forming on her neck. He hadn’t lost her yet.

“Le...Lulu?”

As her throat thrummed with that raspy and broken voice, he pulled away from her with the biggest smile spreading from one cheek to the other. Her eyes were bloodshot and barely open. It felt as though he were seeing them for the first time, still so bright and blue after everything that had happened to her.

“Is that...is that my Lulu? I can’t...I can’t be dead already, can I?”

He breathed in quick, “No! V, heavens no. We’re still alive, Blueberry. Both of us, living and breathing, I promise.” For the first time in what felt like a lifetime, he felt a tear run down his cheek. A real, living tear, “We’re okay, Vivi. We are.”

The smile she gifted him took so much effort, he could tell as she lost it to a grimace and a low moan. Her eyes closed and he thought the worst, but then the sky peeked out once more to stare straight ahead, up and over the cliff. Before she spoke, he knew what her words would be. Gently now he propped her against a stalagmite, coughs ringing through the cavern as she released all of her weight against the stony structure behind her. With every breath she tried to speak, but he drew a finger across her lips with purpose filling his eyes.

“Don’t worry, Vivi. I’ll save him. Just wait right here, I’ll be back for you.”

She held his gaze, fog swirling around them and filling their newly unbound lungs with something cold and terrifying. Neither wanted to say goodbye, or make the first move, or do anything but stay together right there. He could feel just how terrified she was from across the tether, just how scared she was of losing both of them right now after she had just gotten them both back…

Fear. It had all been stemmed in fear.

He stood up and Mystery took his place, curling up in her lap and looking up at Lewis with glowing red eyes that urged him to leave. Vivi nodded as she accepted what was to happen, making way for determination as she released him with that little gesture to go save their fourth piece. There was mumbling from the cliff face, flashes of orange and green peering over the edge to search the fog below, but he knew she was safe down here so long as he made it up there in time to stop anything else from happening. Whether or not he would be okay was another question.

As he ascended the left pathway up towards the site of his death, the silhouette of Arthur outlined by green light brought a sickness to his stomach.

He had no clue what he was supposed to do.

The demon sensed him, be it his footsteps or simply his presence that sounded the alarm in the devil’s mind. As they turned around, Lewis was met by eyes glowing bright against a black background, the possession that spread across their face full and absolute without a hint of the man who used to inhabit their expressions and movements that had grown jerky with hardly contained anger and disgust. Even if he towered above the body, Lewis felt small in comparison to this beast. Who was to say how many thousands of years this being had seen, just how long their anger had to build up and ruminate? He felt chills shudder down his spine, something he hadn’t missed as he kept a steady gaze and body. 

Even his voice, if a little shaky, held true in the end as he tested the waters gently.

“Hey Arthur, I know you’re in there buddy. Listen to me, okay? Hold onto my voice as best you can. We’re gonna get through this like we always do. Just try and find me best you can. I’m not leaving.”

The demon broke out into laughter again, confusion morphing quickly into hardly kept amusement. Lewis ignored it as best he could, flinching slightly at the sheer volume of the demon’s elation as he picked it back up again.

“Don’t get yourself down, bud, Vivi’s okay and so am I. Look, I got a body now! And she’s a little battered, but she’s okay. The demon didn’t hurt her all that bad in the end, I know she’d really like to see you right now-”

“Do you really think that ‘love’ and ‘hope’ shit is going to work on me, kid? This weakling doesn’t have an ounce of anything inside of him that could even begin to measure up to me. He’s insecure, his soul is in shambles, he’s straight-up a coward...I mean, what are you hoping to gain from this, anyway?” the demon started towards him menacingly, teeth shining brightly, “It’s good to know where the girl is at least, I might have to pay her a visit...maybe, if I can break you down enough, I can upgrade this body. Purple goes a lot better with green, anyway. What do you think about that?”

“You can do it, Arthur! I know you’re telling yourself you can’t, but you’re stronger than this! I mean, look at all you’ve done for Vivi and Mystery and I, just think about it. Remember when we broke down in the middle of Arizona, no town in sight for one hundred miles each way? Man, Vivi and I thought it was the end. But not you. You didn’t even have your toolbox with you. Or when the poltergeist got us, and I was too afraid to do anything? You saved Vivi, not me. She wouldn’t be around today if it hadn’t been for you.” the demon stopped in his tracks, grimacing slightly. Lewis took that as a sign and found new power in his words, “I mean, you spit in a vampire’s face! Who even does that? Not a coward, that’s for sure.”

For a split second, their face changed back fully, a flash of pale white skin and amber eyes grown frantic, “No. He’s lying to you, scrap. You’ve let me kill both of your best friends, how is that strong? Think about it, if you could fight me all along then why didn’t you save either of them? I know you better than either of them, I’ve been inside your mind. You are _nothing_.”

“Vivi and I aren’t dead, Arthur, but we need you. You know so much more about first aid than I do, but I do know that she needs some medical attention after that much time without oxygen. Just keep listening. Keep fighting.” they lifted a hand to their face, tearing slowly at the skin and leaving shallow scratched across Arthur’s cheek, “We almost have our happy ending. We’re so close, but it isn’t the end without you. It can’t be.”

“He’s lying! You’ll ruin it again, I always do! I’ll let you guys down, or hurt you. No matter what, I’ll let you down. That’s how it always is, Lewis, it’s what I always do when we finally find happiness. I can’t-”

Lewis didn’t feel himself move, it was as if he had simply willed himself into place, closed his eyes, and reawakened in a new spot. Through the fear and sinking of his heart he found his way forward, pushing it all aside in the hopes that it might do something, anything to help. His arms had wrapped around his friend, his face pushed into his chest as it grew wet with tears. There was a moment, a pause, but Lewis could feel it all rush away as he tightened his arms around his partner.

“But you can, Arthur! We all fuck up, but we’re your friends. We’re here to help you clean up the mess. You aren’t perfect, but none of us are. That’s what makes us different, bud, our imperfections.” He closed his eyes, knowing that this might be the end, “I’m sorry I stole her away from you, I’m sorry I was ever so blind that we were thrown into this mess in the first place. But we have our whole lives ahead of us now, Arthur, and it wouldn’t be the Mystery Skulls without you.”

The body he enveloped shook and rattled, once, then twice, then a third before he felt the wall come tumbling down. Arthur’s body was wracked with sobs, deep inhalations met by jagged exhales that melted away into his chest to be forgotten forever. Lewis could feel the fabric above his breast growing wet with tears as his friend let it all go. But it was his friend, it was Arthur now. He just had to keep that little sliver going, just for a little bit longer…

“Just think of it, Art. We have so many possibilities if we only make it through this night. There’s a whole country to travel, hundreds and hundreds of hauntings to solve and mysteries to bust. Or there’s home, a couple families waiting for us and each other...we could spend countless more nights just driving and being together, wouldn’t that be nice? And wait until will pull out that old Gamecube again at our next motel! Just think about it, you and V playing Mario Kart and me making dinner while you guys dye your hair and bicker like you always do. Doesn’t that sound nice?”

He held Arthur’s head closer to him, feeling him nod frantically into his vest and losing himself as he felt that worry slowly melt away. Muffled by clothing, Arthur tried to speak back to him but to no real avail. It was then that Lewis pulled away to look at him in the eyes, finding what had once been tainted green with envious thoughts and jealous promises bright and amber once more. His smile couldn’t be contained.

“Let’s get out of here, buddy. Vivi probably needs a hospital, and you look like you need a drink. What do you say? Are we all good now?”

Arthur smiled up at him and nodded, one more time. That’s when Lewis truly felt his heart beat again, that was what made him feel alive in that instant. And from that moment forward, it never went away.


	31. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is the end of all things, but one thing remains untouched. Though blood is not binding, it means the world to Lewis, and Vivi is not about to let his world fall if she can do anything about it.

“How do I look?”

Eyes flit up from behind the page, blue meeting purple as she waited all nestled in the corners and curves of the van’s couch and Arthur with a light read between her fingers and a gentle smile on her face. The gentle rush of the occasional car down the street rocked them back and forth, and the light in her eyes sang their praise before it could possibly be spoken.

“You know you look wonderful, Lulu.”

He had been preening for the past hour, smoothing down hair and vest obsessively as he paced back and forth with purpose leading him forward. Every lap he made lead to another glance towards the mirror, another imaginary imperfection he had to fix, another lap, another minute...until now, when he finally quieted his feet and looked for reassurance in the two waiting on him. Even so, he didn’t seem to believe her as he worriedly looked back at the little glass frame to his right.

“Are you sure? I don’t know, I feel so out of it...and my hair, it’s not doing what I want, it’s all over the place. I look like...like...”

Arthur scoffed, not even looking up from his game, “You could set it on fire. I hear it’s all the rage nowadays.”

The stink eye he received must have broken a record on smelliest glance to date.

“Lewis, they aren’t going to care about your hair, or any wrinkles in your clothes, or anything like that. They’re your family. All that’s going to matter is that you are you, and that’s what you look like right now!” Vivi gestured at him in full, big smile brightening her nearly healed face, “You look like my Lulu, their son and brother. That’s what matters.”  
In vain, he tried to catch her smile and copy it on his face, but his muscles just didn’t want to cooperate. One last glance to the mirror and he met eyes that were ghostly and glowing, a human with darkness shading the windows to his soul. He didn’t feel like Lewis, not anymore.

“You know how my family is about the undead…”

“And I know how they are about you. Trust them, Lewis. They aren’t going to turn you away.”

It hadn’t been perfect, the ritual they had used to bring him back. His eyes, no matter what they tried in the passing months, had stayed the same as they had been in death. Vivi came up with a million different theories on what might have gone wrong, but in the end it was the same-ghost eyes, shaded and black save for the flitting of glowing pink pupils. Sunglasses and a mumbled excuse about a rare disease often sufficed to shake the questions off, but that didn’t change what it really was. It was a reminder, and it would never go away.

“So are we done? ‘Cause I’m pretty sure if we wait in their driveway any longer they’re going to come out of their own accord and not ours.” Arthur broke away, closing his DS and stretching out his arms before standing up, “That might be exciting to watch, but I’d rather not risk it.”

Lewis nodded, pushing his reservations aside as best he could. He really wished he had more time to prepare, if he had it his way he would’ve written a script. Vivi had warned against that. “Okay I...I guess this is it. Vivi?”

“Got it. Give us five minutes, tops.”

Arthur flinched at that, “Ten? At least?”

“You heard me Cheeto. Five minutes.”

Lewis wasn’t the only one to rise from death. Beyond the van gates, Spring had finally awoken to melt the night’s frost and grant them a bit of warmth, the sun touching their skin and gifting them heat despite the nip of the air surrounding them. Their feet hit the gravel in the driveway, crackling and crunching as Arthur and Vivi prepared themselves with premeditated words and practiced explanations instead of salt, sage, and holy water. They looked up at Lewis, eyes soft and gentle yet tinted with excitement and anxiety. 

He had placed the potential for his happiness in their hands, Vivi vowed she would not let herself drop it this time around.

“Take your time, okay? Don’t rush it. And if it looks bad...well, I’d rather...I’d rather them not know, then. I don’t want them to-”

“For god’s sake, Lewis, let us do our thing. Stop being such a pissbaby, Pinky.”

Vivi punched his good arm hard, but couldn’t hide the relief in her voice at her friend’s confidence, “What our beloved friend here means is, we got this. You don’t have to worry, just trust us.” 

He paused, looking down at them from inside the van. His eyes met Vivi’s, then Arthur’s, and then they closed softly. Forcing himself to relax, he shrunk with an exhale and a couple steps back so that he could fall against the couch, lifting his hand in a defeated farewell.

“Okay. I trust you.”

Vivi lifted a hand to her lips, blowing a kiss and waiting for her boyfriend to catch it before turning away with a hand clasped in Arthur’s and her heart rising steadily up and out of her chest. Despite the overwhelming rush of determination and euphoria that was creeping up her limbs steadily, she couldn’t help but feel just a little hint of worry at the thought that she might mess this up somehow. Just as Arthur had learned to find his bravery, she had discovered that a dose of cautiousness went a long way in keeping her little family safe and content...and what she did now would shape the rest of Lewis’ life in what she hoped would be a positive way. The things she said, the way she acted, they could all make or break the familial ties he had.

She could barely breathe by the time she lifted a hand just inches from the door.

There was a pause, staring at the light wood in front of her without any hint of recognition in her eyes, only the possibility for heartbreak. Vivi looked down, at the stone beneath her feet and the outline of salt at the bottom of the door. She could be wrong, that was always a possibility. The promises she made to her beloved could be empty lies and this could all be some big mistake, some endeavor she would do best to leave behind. Monsters didn’t scare her anymore; failure did.

She had forgotten Arthur was beside her until she felt his hand squeeze her’s tightly. With a start, she came back to reality to find him smiling at her with encouragement lighting his bright eyes, and she couldn’t help but smile back at the thought of it. Oh, how time had changed them: the forever fearful boy turned brave and the carefree, impulsive girl turned thoughtful. This must be the end of their story, she thought, with all their lessons learned and all their loose ends about to be tied off.

He gave her courage, and she knocked with a sharp inhale of breath. Moments after, the round and kind face of Mirabel peaked around the door, eyes full of warmth and just a tinge of pain as she recognized the two standing in front of her. As she spoke, her voice cracked and wavered ever so slightly despite her attempts to sound strong.

“Vivi, Arthur! Come in, come in, it has been much too long…”

The house was quiet save Mirabel. It was still somewhat early, and the young siblings of Lewis were either asleep or at a friends house, in one case. Upstairs, her husband Alberto was hard at work caring financially for the business he held so dear...this was the best case scenario in Vivi’s mind, Mirabel definitely was much more likely to listen she felt. They took seats on the couch across from her, the living room tidy but still showing the signs of the rough-housing a home full of children takes after years of use. It was warm, and smelled sweetly of home. Despite her limited visits, this house was truly the place Vivi’s heart wanted to call hers. 

“So, what brings the two of you back home this morning? We haven’t seen you since the hospital, I know Perla will absolutely love to see you if you stay, Vivi. She really took a shining to you when you stayed for dinner with L-”

Abruptly she cut herself off, her eyes flashing quickly to Arthur as she held herself back as best she could. She looked terrified, as though she had broken a curse by nearly muttering his name, and if she hadn’t been frozen in time as she seemed to be at this moment the two might’ve found themselves consoling a crying mother as she tried her best to hide even the memory of her son. Vivi looked down and away, her hands working quickly against each other.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to hold anything back, Mirabel. I remember Lewis,” Vivi glanced up at Arthur, seeking that reassurance as she started in, “In fact, that’s why we’re here. To talk about him.”

Mrs.Garza took in a sharp inhale, her eyes growing wide before filling with tears. She covered her mouth with her hand, shaking her head in a low and slow arc as she lifted her other hand to request a minute to compose herself. She tried to speak multiple times, but every time she met Vivi’s gaze she had to look away as another wave hit her.

“I’m sorry you two, I...I really am. It has been so difficult to say he does not exist with you, I miss him so much and you two were...well, of course you know, Vivi, of course you know. How could you not?” Her voice trailed off, still slowly swinging her head back and forth, “Lewis, Lewis, Lewis…”

Vivi had crossed the room to sit next to her on the opposite couch, wrapping one arm around the tearful woman and squeezing her shoulders gently, “That’s why we came back, Mirabel. Lewis. We know you miss him very much, and that’s why-”

Her words were cut off by the shifting of footsteps and the low and deep murmur of Spanish rolling down the stairs as Lewis’ father called to his wife suddenly. Mirabel straightened up and composed herself, quickly calling back to him with hardly a waver in her voice in a tongue the two guests knew next to nothing about. As Vivi heard both her and Arthur’s names, Mr.Garza’s footsteps came pounding down the stairs. With a frantic glance to her friend, Vivi realized this made their task a lot harder than before-convincing the spirit-fearing, superstitious man would not be an easy task in the slightest, definitely not compared to the still mourning mother they had been previously and exclusively tasked with.

Alberto gave his wife a gentle kiss before he opened his arms wide to the two guests, embracing them tightly with jumbled words of greeting under his breath. He was charming in his silence, sitting beside his wife and wrapping an arm around her as she began asking questions again, rambling on at length about the happenings of home and all the ways the family had missed them as her husband smiled honestly. He reminded her of Lewis in the way he changed a room, so warm and alive like a campfire. 

Despite his warmth, however, Vivi was still caught in trying to figure out how exactly she was going to fix the sticky situation she had lead her team into this time-this man knew how to protect against ghosts, if he really wanted to he could and would hurt Lewis. Fear was a strong motivator, she had seen that many times when Arthur had pulled them out of danger just by instinct alone, and this man had an entire upbringing steeped in ghost hunting.

Mirabel had asked a question, she could tell by the way the room was looking at her expectantly. Of course, lost in thought as she was she hadn’t heard exactly what that question was, and as the mother’s smile began to fade gently Vivi felt the weight of the task fall hard on her shoulders. 

“I’m sorry Mirabel, I-”

She sputtered, swallowing her guilt and closing her eyes with a deep breath. For just a moment, she breathed, willing her brain to find the words to get them out of just one more mission, just another undertaking like any other they had accepted she could feel the others in the room shift uncomfortably around her.

“Vivi, dear, are you alright?”

There was no more avoiding it. Dancing around the subject was taking much too long, and at this rate she’d never even begin to tell them what was going on by the end of the day. No, no more pussyfooting around. 

It was time to be honest.

“Mirabel, Alberto, I came here for a reason. And that reason is...your son, Lewis.” She looked up, eyes set and determined as she was met with the surprise in both of their faces. One step after the other, one phrase at a time, “You know we handle ghosts and as such there was always the chance that we’d find him...and we did, he didn’t pass on.”

“Vivi…” Mirabel sighed, her voice a pained whisper. Her husband was looking at a spot on the ground, his brow slowly hardening as she continued to speak.

“Just listen, please! We found him, and he wasn’t the same, but…” She was searching their eyes for an answer, a reaction, a little bit of hope that she hadn’t ruined everything just yet. All she found was sorrow behind the covered mouth of one, turmoil in the swimming eyes of the other, “well, one thing happened and then the next and he’s fixed now. He’s alive. And he wants to see you again, more than anything, more than-”

Alberto stood abruptly, mumbling something and turning his back to the team with arms crossed and shoulders hunched. His being was a ball of tension, sending shock waves of electricity as his breathing grew laborious and the murmur of his words grew louder, gradually. Mirabel stood up in response, a hand on her husband’s back working circles into the knotted muscles of his shoulder. She shook her head back and forth in a low arc. Vivi recognized the words from Alberto to be a quiet and repeated ‘no’.

Well, shit.

“I know it sounds bad, I know. But we didn’t just resurrect him out of the blue! We’ve been traveling for awhile now, and he’s regained his control, and he’s-”

“Vivi, please. Can’t you see you’re hurting us?”

She was quiet for a second, pondering. Wow, she had really fucked that up, hadn’t she? But there had to be some way to redeem herself, some way to bring them back together again...some way to see her Lulu finally happy again, for good.

Biting her lip in concentration and determination, Vivi walked to the door, her footsteps resounding loudly against the floor wooden floor beneath her. She felt Arthur’s hands grab at her arm, but she pulled herself away from him without breaking her stride. This was for him, the love of her life, the one who had come back from death for her. There was no way in hell she was giving up that easy.

As she pulled the door open, she could hear the sharp inhale from his father’s nose, the loud gasp from his mother’s mouth, but she ignored it as she met her lover face to face. Without thought, she grabbed Lewis’ hand and pulled him in from the Spring morning chill as though nothing had changed since they had left this home last save the shared love between them. He didn’t try to resist despite the blush on his cheeks and the startled confusion in his eyes, and even as his family stared at him bewildered he attempted one of his old, big grins, trying his best to hide the worry present in his eyes. 

He was met with anything but open arms. Instead, he found stillness, utter rigidity in the two he faced. Vivi could see him shrink from their gaze, averting his dark eyes as they watched his every movement.

“Hey...Mami, Papi, I-”

Mirabel started forward as though to come to him but found her way barred by the barrel arm of her husband. He made no noise, emitted no emotion, merely glared at Lewis with a blank, dead expression, more a ghost than the son he was staring down. Arthur awkwardly made his way towards his team, standing beside Vivi and Lewis with his head held as steady as he could keep it as he grabbed Lewis’ other hand. There they stood steadfast, facing adversity with the courage they had found in each others’ company.

“Look, I know this is a lot to take in all at once. He’s here now, and he’s staying, and he wants to be a part of your lives again.” Vivi declared, looking up at Lewis with eyes softening and hand tightening around his, “He’s a part of ours now, and that won’t change. But I’ve watched him miss you every step of the way since we found him, and I can’t let that happen anymore.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t too thrilled about it either in the beginning,” Arthur’s voice lifted, surprising everyone in the room as he interjected, “but he’s the same kid you guys raised. Just with wacky eyes. And sometimes he’s on fire.”

“Not helping Arty.”

“Long of the short of it, it’s Lewis! Look at him! Goofy hair and weird vest and all!”

“You’re one to talk…” Lewis whispered under his breath, falling backwards into the support his friends had weaved and relaxing just the slightest with their hands in his and their voices holding him up. His smile became real, the hope in his eyes glimmering and taking flight.

If everything fell through today, if he was chased out of house and home by the family he had so missed, he knew he’d be okay. He had a different kind of family now, the kind that went to the ends of the Earth to find you after you nearly killed them both, the kind that brought you back from the dead.

“I know how you feel about ghosts, Papi. I know we consumed any childhood you could’ve possibly had, I know you’ve lost so many people you’ve loved, I know you hate ghosts with every fiber of your being. But I-”

“Lewey?”

Every head in the room snapped to the steps of the stairs as a little voice lifted itself up from the dark. Blinking sleep from her eyes, Perla smiled the biggest smile the world had ever held and pattered over to her brother as if it were Christmas morning. Alberto moved to intercept her, but she found her way into her brother’s open arms despite. He broke away from Vivi and Arthur, throwing himself wide open as she threw herself into him and he spun her around, laughing and crying and loving each other. He stopped, still holding her with her long hair draping over his arms, and she pulled away to grab his face with her tiny hands.

“I knew you’d come back! I told Marco and Amado and Marisol all the time and they never believed me! But I knew, Lewey, I knew!” Her eyes flitted back and forth, gazing at his face and grabbing his nose, his ears, his cheeks. Finally, she kicked her legs excitedly and buried her face into his shoulder again, wrapping her arms around him and giggling through the happy tears that began to trickle down her cheeks, “I missed you so much, so so so so so so much! But you came back...you came back…”

Vivi could see his arms tighten around Perla as he pressed his lips against her temple, his voice hardly even a whisper now as he held her and rocked her and felt the love he had missed so much since the first day of his awakening.

“I never left, mi hermana pequeña.”

There were hurried footsteps from behind the team, and Vivi turned around just in time to catch Mirabel hurrying past her, nearly catching a run as she too wrapped her arms around Lewis and began to let the tears flow again. The three fell to the floor in a pile of mumbled ‘I missed you's, foreheads pressed together and mouths working to find words that had been left unsaid for what felt like eternity. Their hands searched the lost son’s face and hands and hair for any scars that marred him yet found nothing. 

He was perfect, just as he had been. With a smile on her face Vivi leaned against Arthur as she felt the worry roll off of her shoulders, watching Alberto out of the corner of her eye warily. It was as if he were still frozen in time, a watcher but not a partaker as his family fell together again. She nearly jumped as he finally spoke.

“This...it is not right.”

Lewis looked up, breaking his gaze away from his mother’s and meeting the eyes of his father, still searching for acceptance. He found none, standing up solemnly with Perla’s hand still clasped in his as though he were about to speak, but Mirabel cut him off. She shielded her son from view, facing her husband head on with the fiercest determination slashing across her face

“Alberto, it is Lewis. Our Lewis. Look, he holds Perla as he once did, he speaks with our son’s voice, he can hold me and I can feel him. He is not one of the monsters who haunts you, my love!” Her voice was hardly held back, wavering as she tried to contain herself. She turned around, cupping Lewis’ cheek as he leaned into it with eyes closed “He is my son. He is our son. Can you not see? Is it not clear as day to you?”

Lewis took a moment to speak, eyes still closed as he breathed deeply and enjoyed what little closeness he had found now before he possibly threw it all away. He lifted a hand to hold his mother’s, turning his cheek to kiss her hand gently before kneeling down to stare into the almond eyes of Perla, one last time. With a bittersweet smile, he pulled her to his chest, hugging her tightly before standing and walking towards Alberto. He left them behind, all the people who would stand behind him, and he faced his father alone.

“I’m sorry for bursting back into your life like this. I know that I am everything that you hate now even if you once loved me, and I know that you’re scared of losing everything you love to your greatest fear. I know this because I have something I want to protect now. Someone I want to protect,” His glance found its way back to Vivi, and he found courage to speak again as his voice began to falter and he looked down and away, “but I had to try, Papi. Because family means everything to me, it means everything to us. And I couldn’t live the rest of my life not knowing if I could’ve ever found a way to patch things up again with you, with mother, and all the little ones.”

He lifted his eyes, confidently yet respectfully meeting his father’s. It was silent save the shuffling of Perla as she grabbed at her mother’s arm, the whispering exhales on the lips of those in the room, the sounds of life. And in the middle of it all, the one who had danced with death. The one who was still feeling, speaking, breathing, living.

“Papi, I will leave if you ask me too. I will leave, and I won’t come back without your request. I will respect your wishes no matter what they may be, I don’t wish to disrupt your life, or the lived of the people we love. All I ask is that you let me see Marco, Amado, Marisol, and Sophie one last time. And then I will find my peace.”

The room waited for Alberto to react, searching for some change in expression as his son spilled his guts in front of him and asked to be seen for what he truly was, and accepted. At first he didn’t move, only kept that statue-still pose. But then time started for him once again, he moved robotically to cover his mouth with his hand. He exhaled long and deep, eyes flashing from wife, to daughter, to guests, to son. He closed his eyes, turning away. 

“...Stay.”

Lewis’ dark eyes grew wide before growing soft, his father turning around to face him for the first time with a pained smile on his face. He had been expecting something else, something more biting, and yet here Alberto was with one hand outstretched in a show of trust. They clasped hands with a firm shake, and just as he had the last night Lewis had seen him he pulled his son in to give him a powerful clap on the back. 

Like clockwork the room flowed into motion and he was surrounded once more, all smiling faces and tearful words. Vivi held back, still by Arthur’s side as she watched the love of her life finally weld the broken links of the chain back together to find happiness, completely. She toyed with the ring on her finger, still foreign but welcome to her, and she pondered: what had happened, what was happening, what would happen. 

She knew they were intertwined, by friendship and romance and soon, law. Bonded to each other by memory, held together by hardship, tested and tried and still together after all that had happened. The three of them weren’t just a team anymore-they were family, even if that family could be difficult and dysfunctional. 

They sat in the living room, joined by more siblings as family members awoke and came to realize the miracle that had finally happened to them. Perla had spread out across Vivi and Lewis, the rest sat on the couch across and listened as the Mystery Skulls told their story for what felt like the first time in their lives. Their end was a new beginning, just another chapter past, another bend in the river that pulled them onwards.

So, just like that, they turned another page and continued to write, they steered their makeshift raft along the currents and hoped for the best with their paddles to the waves and their faces toward the sun. And, just like that, the wandering trio found their way home again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for sticking with me through all of this, everyone. It's your support that inspired me to continue writing, and for that I am ever grateful. I hope you enjoyed the rollercoaster that was my first sizable fanfic, even with the writing style disparities and the long wait times and...well, you get the point.
> 
> Just...thank you. A million times over.
> 
> Have a wonderful day, month, year, and life lovelies!


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